


The Roadie

by ofnovember



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: Alternate Universe, Balthazar is in a band, Fluff, M/M, Pedro signs up to be a roadie, The band is called What You Will, ah well what can you do?, lovelylittleficlets, slightly excessive use of hashtags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-11 21:22:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 37
Words: 26,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3333311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofnovember/pseuds/ofnovember
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"When Pedro made the New Years resolution back in January to travel the world, being a roadie for a band he didn’t even particularly like was not exactly what he had in mind. "</p><p>This was the fic I wrote for the Lovely Little Ficlets challenge on Tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Resolutions

When Pedro made the New Years resolution back in January to travel the world, being a roadie for a band he didn’t even particularly like was not exactly what he had in mind. Still, it was an international tour and with any luck, Pedro would get a few days off to see the sights.

The band he was touring with was called “What You Will,” the hottest young band to come out of New Zealand in years. It’s not that Pedro didn’t like them, they just always seemed to take themselves too seriously and the type of music they played wasn’t really his thing.

Pedro’s friend Hero had given him a rundown of all of the band’s members before he left. The band was made up of five members. The lead singer was a guy called Duke Orsinio, a guy who never seemed all that intelligent to Pedro. Other members of the group were Sebastian, Toby, Andrew, and Balthazar. Hero’s favorite by far was Balthazar. “He writes a lot of the songs and he plays just about every instrument in existence,” she had told him.

The tour started in a week in Los Angeles. Pedro and a few other workers were required to be there early so they could get to know their jobs. As he boarded the plane he said a silent goodbye to New Zealand. He knew he wouldn’t be back until New Years.


	2. Birds

“BEN!” said Pedro loudly into the phone.

“What?” replied Ben.

“It’s not that I don’t care that you seem to have bad luck with birds-”

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry mate. How have you been?” Ben asked. Pedro was always amazed with his ability to switch gears so fast.

Pedro sat back in the uncomfortable plastic chair. “I’ve been in LA a week and I haven’t seen anything but the inside of the venue. I’m going crazy.”

“Really? You haven’t seen anything?”

“Nothing.”

“Huh. Well I remember you saying you took this job to see the world, and it sounds like you won’t be doing much of that at all. I think you should just quit, mate. It’s not like you like the band, I mean, who would? All they sing about is how love ‘whispers in your ears’ and ‘smells like violets’ and shit. Who would even listen to that stuff?”

“A lot of people, Ben. Which is why the tour is happening. And I can’t quit. I told myself I would do it and the pay’s not bad, it just might not be as fun as I thought.”

Ben huffed. “Well alright then. Knock yourself out.”

Pedro rolled his eyes. “I gotta go, Ben. Breaks over.”

“Alright. Let me know when you decide to quit!” Ben said cheerfully.

Pedro heard Ben hang up and and he shook his head. He put his phone away, stood up, and stretched.

Back to work.


	3. Breakfast

“Balthazar! Come on! They want us to say hi to the crew!”

Balthazar looked up from his cereal at Andrew. “What, now? Can’t I finish eating first?”

“Nope!” replied Andrew, much too chipper for how early it was.

Reluctantly, Balthazar allowed himself to be lead to a large room where the road crew was more or less standing in a line, Balthazar walked down the line and shook everyone’s hand as they said their name, trying in vain to remember all of them. In the end he only really registered two. The first was Feste, who just looked like a troublemaker to him. The second was Pedro. Pedro stood out to him because a) he looked as tired as Balthazar felt and b) because he had a really cool haircut.

The crew broke up to get back to their individual jobs and Balthazar looked around for his assistant, Ursula. He’d been reluctant to get an assistant at first but she was so helpful.   
She also quickly became his best friend. He was happy he had her around.

He found her and she gave him a nod as he approached.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” she asked, looking Balthazar up and down.

“I hate jet lag,” he grumbled.

Ursula rolled her eyes. “Everyone hates jet lag, Balth. Come on. Let’s get you to see the stage. They didn’t go too overboard this time, thank god.”

Balthazar followed her to the stage but the only thing on his mind was the cereal he’d left behind. He might have to ask Ursula to find him a muffin.


	4. Introduction

Pedro took his break about an hour after the first show was over. He’d gotten all of the stuff he was in charge of done and he felt like he’d earned it. He made his way over to the green room. He figured it would be empty at this point.

If he heard the sound of a guitar coming from the room, he didn’t really register it. Instead he walked right over to the nearest table and sat down, burying his head in his arms.

“Erm, hello,” said a voice from the corner.

Pedro looked up to see Balthazar sitting in an armchair, eyebrows raised and smirking.

Pedro sighed and began to stand. “Sorry. I didn’t know you were in here. I’ll-”

“Nah. It’s fine. Stay. Pedro, right?

Pedro sat back down slowly. “Yeah. I’m… sort of surprised you remembered that.”

Balthazar smiled sheepishly. “To be honest, I only remembered it because I thought your hair was cool.”

“Thanks, bro!” replied Pedro, laughing. “So, why are you back here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Hey, everything I was assigned to do is done. And I’m allowed a break,” replied Pedro, defending himself. “I just needed to get away from it for a bit.”

Balthazar nodded. “I can understand that. As for me… last time I tried to go out with the guys to meet the fans I had a panic attack. So I don’t do that anymore.”

“Right, I think Hero told me about that.” Hero told him so many things at once that he could recall some of it but mostly it was all a blur. “Don’t you do a bunch of stuff with fanmail instead?”

By now Balthazar had started absent-mindedly picking at his guitar. “Yea. I know it’s kind of old fashioned, but I enjoy it. Who’s Hero?”

“She’s one of my friends’ cousin. She’s a huge fan of yours,” said Pedro, motioning towards Balthazar. He watched Balthazar’s hands as they wandered over the guitar. “What are you playing?”

“Erm…” Balthazar looked down at his hands as he continued to play before looking back up at Pedro. “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

“Well you’re really good.”

Balthazar’s head dropped at that and Pedro was about to ask how long Balthazar had been playing guitar when the door to the green room flew open.

“Pedro. You are needed to help with the AV boards.”

Pedro looked over his shoulder to see the more annoying of the assistant stage managers, Malvolio, standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips like some sort of caricature. “I just started my break!” Pedro protested.

“Take your break later. We need you at the AV boards.”

Pedro rolled his eyes. “I’ll be right there.” He turned back to the musician in the corner as he stood. “It was nice talking to you, Balthazar.”

***

“It was nice talking to you too,” replied Balthazar as he watched Pedro leave. As soon as the door shut Balthazar stopped playing and brought both hands to his face to rub his eyes. He had no idea why Pedro’s compliment made him react in such a way. Tons of people paid him that same compliment every day.

Okay, maybe he had some idea. Pedro just seemed so genuine when he said it, like he wasn’t trying to get anything out of Balthazar by complimenting him, he just thought Balthazar was good. Balthazar's cheeks hadn't flushed like that in a long time and he found himself unable to look Pedro in the eye anymore. 

Balthazar dropped his hands to his lap. “Get a hold of yourself, Stan,” he said to himself. No use getting a crush on the Roadie. That would be extremely unproductive.


	5. Watching

The first thing Pedro did on the bus when he was off for the night was google Balthazar Jones. He was a few months older than Pedro. He grew up in Auckland. About a third of the songs on both of What You Will’s albums were written by him (none of them were ever released as singles) and he sang on about half of them. He was the only one in the band who didn’t use his twitter account, though his assistant Ursula had an Instagram that many of his fans followed (Pedro paused his search for a moment to do that). By the time Pedro started searching YouTube it was three in the morning. He looked at music videos and interviews and behind the scenes and old videos from before the band even started. 

Finally at quarter to five Tony, who was on the bus with him, grumbled, “Pedro. Turn that fucking thing off. I’m trying to sleep.”

Pedro rolled his eyes and shut off his phone.

***

The next day they were in Phoenix and Pedro regretted staying up so late. He made a couple of minor mistakes that morning and Malvolio had a lot of fun telling him exactly what he did wrong. He didn’t have it as bad as Feste though; Malvolio had taken a disliking to the the guy from the moment they met.

Pedro didn’t get any downtime until the show actually started. This time, though, instead of sitting in the corner while the show went on, he watched. He still didn’t love most of the music, but he had a new appreciation of it. The guys really did have some talent, though Pedro mostly just paid attention to Balthazar. As reserved as he always seemed in the interviews and videos Pedro had watched the night before, Balthazar seemed to love being on stage.

“Amazing, isn’t he?”

Pedro looked to his left to see Tony staring intently at the stage. “What?”

Tony gestured at the drum set. “Sebastian. He’s the best.”

Pedro nodded and his eyes returned to the stage, though not to Sebastian.“Sure.”

On a whim he pulled out his phone and opened Instagram. He took a photo and captioned it with:

_Sometimes to appreciate things you have to look at them from a different point of view. #whatyouwill #roadielife_

Pedro put his phone away and watched the rest of the concert, thinking (hoping) maybe he would see Balthazar in the green room later.


	6. Makeup

A week later the tour stopped in Orlando where they were doing two shows on consecutive nights. On the second day Balthazar had finished eating his lunch and decided to walk around for a bit. There wasn’t much to do that didn’t require leaving the little city of buses but he was sure he could find something interesting going on.

By the time he got to the upper floors of the venue he’d all but given up hope and was about to head back to the bus when he heard a voice floating through an open door ahead of him.

“Bea, come on, you guys were friends before!”

Balthazar’s interest heightened as he got close enough to recognize the voice. He pushed the door open all the way to find the lights on and Pedro sitting against the far wall. The roadie was wearing headphones and holding a tablet. Balthazar smirked at the scene in front of him.

Pedro looked up when the door opened and smiled when he made eye contact with Balthazar. He pulled an ear bud out. “Hey bro! What’s up?”

Balthazar leaned against the door frame. Pedro had started joining him in the green room after every show. He really enjoyed having Pedro around. It was like having a friend. “Bored. What are you up to?” he asked, gesturing to the tablet.

“I’m -,” he looked back down at the tablet, “Bea, shut up I’m trying to - I’m sorry that was rude but you’re also being rude… “ Pedro watched the screen for a few more seconds before rolling his eyes. “Whatever you say, miss queen of the universe.” Finally he looked back to Balthazar, who was smiling in amusement. “Sorry. I’m talking to a friend from back home on Skype. She’s cranky in the morning.” Pedro winced and pulled out the other earbud from his ear.

“Beatrice?” asked Balthazar.

“Beatrice,” confirmed Pedro. “Do you want to…” he gestured from Balthazar to the tablet to the space on the floor next to him.

Balthazar hesitated. As interested as he was in meeting Beatrice, he wasn’t sure it was the best idea, what with him being, well, Balthazar. It was likely if Ursula found out she’d whack him over the head with something. But he was bored and Pedro was looking at him with a smile on his face and his eyebrows raised and it only took Balthazar a few seconds to give in.

As he walked forward, Pedro put one of the earbuds back in his ear. “Hang on, Bea. I want you to meet someone…”

Balthazar slid down the wall and took the other earbud that Pedro had held out for him (ignoring the fact that this was the closest he and Pedro had ever been and that their hands brushed when Pedro gave him the earbud). On the screen, Beatrice appeared to be sitting on her bed. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and she appeared to be wearing pajamas. He checked that he was actually in frame then waved slightly. “Hi.”

Beatrice’s eyes widened. “Oh my god. What?”

Pedro smiled. “Bea, this is Balthazar. Balthazar, this is Beatrice.”

“Pedro, what the fuck?”

“What? I told you I’d made some friends!” Balthazar looked at Pedro as Pedro spoke. Pedro caught his eye and he looked away, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards.

“Yeah, but that’s fucking… I’ve got to go get Hero. Stay right there.” Bea moved out of frame abruptly and Balthazar could hear her pounding on a door. “Hero!” she yelled.

Balthazar looked back at Pedro. “She lives with her cousin?”

“Only for a bit. Her parents are in Australia.”

As Balthazar nodded Beatrice re-entered the frame. She moved her laptop further back and he could see more of the room. Behind her bed was a huge poster of Benedict Cumberbatch. “Come on, sit!” she said to someone off screen.

A second, softer voice started to speak. “Is there any reason this couldn’t have waited until-” Another girl appeared on the screen. She was a little younger but she had the same blonde hair as Beatrice pulled back into a messy bun. She was also wearing pajamas. Balthazar only got a quick glimpse of her before she squeaked and moved away again.

“Hero!” Bea reached out and grabbed Hero’s arm. “Get back here.”

“But I’m not dressed! I’m not wearing any makeup! I can’t-” Just then Bea overpowered her and sat her back down in front of the laptop.

“You look fine!” she told her cousin.

Balthazar was about to say something when Pedro started singing.

“Don’t need makeup… To cover up… Being the way that you are is enou-ou-ough.”

Balthazar laughed and brought a hand up to his face while Beatrice yelled, “wrong band you buffoon!”

“I know! I just thought it was appropriate,” said Pedro, defending himself.

Cutting off their bickering, Balthazar said to the younger girl, “Hello! Hero, right?”

Hero nodded. “Hello. It’s… It’s so great to meet you!”

“It’s nice to meet you too. Pedro says you’re the reason he’s not completely ignorant about the band.”

Hero brought her hands up to her face. “Yes, well,” her hands dropped, “it’s just I’m such a big fan and when I heard he was going with you guys on tour I just… I was sort of jealous.”

Beatrice gasped. “What? My cousin Hero was jealous?” Hero pushed her to the side.

Balthazar’s phone started to ring (the intro to ‘I Will Wait’ by Mumford and Sons) and he sighed and answered it.

It was Ursula, “Where did you disappear off to?”

“I was just walking around the venue a bit,” he replied.

“By yourself? Balthazar-”

Balthazar cut her off, “Pedro’s here too.”

“Roadie Pedro? The one you’ve been talking to after shows?”

“Yea.”

“Well then I should say both of you should be getting back down here. Soundcheck is soon.”

“Alright, Urs. We’ll be down in a minute.” He hung up his phone, “Ursula says soundcheck is soon.”

Pedro groaned. “Fine. I’ll talk to you later, Bea. It was good seeing you Hero!”

Hero waved. “See you, Pedro. It was lovely to meet you, Balthazar! Have a good show tonight!”

Balthazar smiled and waved back. “It was nice meeting you too, Hero. And you Beatrice.”

The call ended and Pedro put his tablet back in his pack and stood up.

Balthazar looked up at him. “They were nice.”

Pedro held out a hand to help Balthazar up, which Balthazar took. “Well, Hero’s always nice. Beatrice can be nice,” replied Pedro.

They made their way to backstage and Balthazar flexed his hand a few times. _Stop freaking out, Stan,_ he told himself. All Pedro had done was help him up. Besides, he had a show to get ready for.


	7. Hypothetically

Balthazar woke up in his hotel room in Denver to his phone ringing. He answered it without looking at it. “Hello?”

“Rise and shine!” It was Pedro. He’d given the roadie his US cell number the day before.

Balthazar dropped his face back into his pillow. “What time is it?” he asked, hoping Pedro could still understand him without having to lift his head.

“It’s six-oh-five. Five minutes after when you told me to call. That’s because I’m a nice person. I gave you five extra minutes.”

“Why are we doing this again?” Balthazar asked, turning his head to the side so his voice could be heard better.

“Because we both agreed we should do some sightseeing and Denver is the only place we will be in once place long enough to actually do that.”

Balthazar sighed. Pedro was right, of course. They had two days off in Denver; the first day they spent sleeping but today Balthazar really did want to explore a little bit. “Fine. I’m up.”

“You have twenty five minutes!” said Pedro and he hung up the phone.

***

A half hour later Balthazar met Pedro by a back exit of the hotel. Balthazar had his older guitar over his shoulder and Pedro was spinning the keys to a rental car on his finger. “Ready?” he asked.

Balthazar looked at the keys. “Yes, but I have to drive. I don’t think you have a driving permit for the States.”

Pedro stopped spinning the keys. “Uh, no I don’t. I didn’t know that was a thing.”

“Neither did I. Ursula did though.”

“Why isn’t she coming with us again?” asked Pedro as they stepped out the door into the cold Colorado morning.

Balthazar shivered. “Because she doesn’t like the cold.” He’d tried his best to talk Ursula into coming with them but she just wouldn’t budge. He couldn’t blame her though.

“Ah well,” said Pedro as they got into the car, Balthazar putting his guitar in the back seat. “So where are we off to first? Do you know?”

“Yep.”

When Balthazar didn’t elaborate Pedro asked, “So where are we going?”

Balthazar turned towards him with a big smile. “You’ll see.”

***

Pedro took over the role of DJ almost immediately. He played a mixture of everything; it was interesting for him to see which songs Balthazar knew and which ones he then sang along with. Pedro knew he liked Mumford and Sons but Pedro was still amazed that Balthazar could sing along with even their most obscure songs. They both had fun singing loudly to “Glare” by Sheep, Dog & Wolf.

When they pulled off the highway Pedro asked once again where they were going but Balthazar remained tight-lipped. They were in the foothills and the sun was just starting to come up.

They drove a little bit further and then Balthazar told him to shut his eyes.

“What, why?” asked Pedro.

“Because I told you to.”

Pedro sighed and closed his eyes. He trusted Balthazar.

The car came to a stop and Balthazar told him to keep his eyes shut. He heard him get out of the car and a few seconds later his door opened. A hand grabbed his arm and guided him out of the seat.

Balthazar shut the car door and Pedro felt him grab his hand. “Follow me.”

“You better not walk me over a cliff.”

Balthazar squeezed his hand. “I won’t.”

They walked a little ways more and Pedro was glad he didn’t trip.

“Okay, there are stairs here…”

Finally they came to a stop. Balthazar let go of his hand. “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

Pedro opened his eyes and his jaw dropped. He also immediately understood why Balthazar wanted to come here so much. It was a giant outdoor amphitheatre with massive stone walls on either side. With the sun just coming up it looked beautiful. “Wow.”

Balthazar smiled. “It’s called Red Rocks.” He turned and walked further forwards onto the stage until he was front and center.

“I can see why.”

They stood in silence for a few minutes, Balthazar looking out from the stage and Pedro looking at Balthazar. On a whim Pedro opened the camera on his phone and snapped a picture.

Eventually Balthazar sat down on the ledge at the front of the stage, pulling his guitar from behind him and setting it on his lap. Pedro took this as a sign that it was okay to approach him and sat down next to him.

“Hypothetically… if I ever left the band… I’d want to play a show here.”

Pedro’s eyes widened and he looked over at Balthazar, who was looking straight ahead. “Why can’t the band play a show here?” he asked.

Balthazar shook his head. “Pepsi Center brings in more money. Don’t get me wrong, the money’s nice and all but…”

Hypothetically Balthazar had said. In Pedro’s experience no one ever used that word about something personal unless… “Would you, you think?”

“Hmm?”

Pedro turned to face Balthazar more. “Leave the band. Is that something that you’ve thought about?”

Balthazar smiled and looked down. “The band publicist would kill me if I answered that question.”

After considering this, Pedro leaned back on his hands. “Okay then. Say there’s this… hypothetical band, let’s call it What You Won’t.” Balthazar laughed slightly and Pedro continued without missing a beat. “And let’s say hypothetically one of the band members, the lovable and adorable guitar-slash-piano-slash-percussion-slash-whatever player went to Red Rocks and hypothetically told his good-looking friend that hypothetically he might want to leave the band What You Won’t in order to play a show there.”

“…okay.”

Pedro looked back at Balthazar. “And the good-looking friend hypothetically asked him if he ever actually thought about leaving the band before… what would he say?”

“He’d say his hypothetical publicist would kill him if he answered that question.”

Laughing, Pedro sat back forwards and clapped his hands together. “Alright. It’s fine. You don’t have to answer that.”

It was quiet between them for a few minutes, then, “Yes.” Balthazar took a deep breath. “Yes, the hypothetical band member of the hypothetical band What You Won’t has thought about leaving.”

Pedro was stunned. He didn’t think Balthazar was going to open up. Pedro knew he had to tread carefully. “Why is that? Hypothetically.”

Balthazar gently picked at the out-of-tune guitar in front of him. “Hypothetically… because he’s not sure he can be everything he wants to be with the hypothetical band.”

“…That’s… not a bad reason… hypothetically.”

“Hypothetically.” Balthazar faced Pedro for the first time since he sat down. “And he’d ask his hypothetical good-looking friend not to tell anyone about the conversation.”

“The hypothetical good-looking friend would swear he wouldn’t tell a soul. That’s what hypothetical friends are for.” 

Balthazar ducked his head and Pedro thought he could see the corners of his mouth turn up. “Thank you, Pedro.”

Pedro smiled and looked back at the seats in front of him. It was obvious that this wasn’t something Balthazar talked about with anyone and Pedro felt honored that Balthazar trusted him enough to talk to him about it. At the same time though, Pedro was sad that Balthazar felt like he was being held back. His friend was an amazing musician and Pedro wanted him to live every one of his dreams. Like his dream to play a show here, for example.

With that thought, Pedro jumped up. He hurdled the guard rail and sat down on the nearest ledge.

“Pedro?”

“Why wait?”

Balthazar was confused “What are you-”

Pedro threw his arms to the side. “You have your guitar. Pretend all the seats are full. Play a show!”

“Pedro…” Balthazar smiled and shook his head. “It’s not exactly…”

“Oh, come on, Balthy! Just one song!”

Balthazar looked up at the sky and sighed. “One song.”

As he stood up, Pedro cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Yeah! Whoooo!”

Pedro was more than happy to see his antics were making Balthazar smile but when the musician finished tuning the guitar and started to play he got quiet. Balthazar stared directly at Pedro and began to sing.

_Serve God, love me and mend…_

***

At the end of the day Balthazar fell back on the bed in his hotel room. After the amphitheatre he and Pedro had gone to Rocky Mountain National Park and drove around everywhere they could. They’d even gotten out of the car and walked a bit. Balthazar was stunned he hadn’t been recognized once. They ended the day hanging out in Balthazar’s hotel room just talking.

Balthazar knew this day trip with Pedro would be a bad idea. Because against his better judgement, he liked Pedro, and this trip only made things worse. He thought about Pedro singing loudly and without restraint in the car. Pedro letting him (more or less) live out his dream of playing Red Rocks. He thought about Pedro calling hypothetical him lovable and adorable. He thought about how well Pedro’s hand fit in his.

He rolled onto his stomach and buried his head in his pillow. _You’re in trouble now, Stanley._


	8. MINI PROMPTS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These were all originally 3 sentence prompts given to me by some lovely people on Tumblr.

_Alcohol:_  
Balthazar sat on the couch with his beer as he watched the rest of the band drunkenly play Guitar Hero; he’d never been any good at the game, mostly because he’d never understood what the point of it was when he could just play an actual guitar. His phone chimed and he pulled it from his pocket and saw he had gotten a snapchat from Pedro. The roadie was singing loudly and very poorly to Don’t Stop Believing and, because alcohol always turned him into a giggly wreck, Balthazar almost fell off the couch from laughing so hard. 

 

 _Surprise:_  
Balthazar was messing around on the piano in the green room, singing songs with Pedro and he was completely taken aback when, after they did the first part of ‘Some Nights’, Pedro started beatboxing right where the drums would have come in, in fact he was so surprised he stopped playing. 

“What?” asked Pedro. 

“I didn’t know you could beatbox!” said Balthazar, to which Pedro just smiled broadly and shrugged.

 

 _Lesson:_  
Ursula, looking for Balthazar, rounded the corner to see both Pedro and Balthazar sitting at the piano. “No, see, if you do it like this,” Balthazar played a C major scale, “you won’t get your fingers stuck.” Pedro slowly started to play the scale and Ursula backed away thinking, _I’ll give them a few more minutes_. 

 

 _Nothing Much To Do:_  
Pedro pulled out his phone and leaned back a bit to get both Balthazar and their Go Fish Game in frame. “Can I post this on Instagram?” Balthazar smiled and nodded and Pedro tagged it as: _#longbusrides #roadielife #balthazarjones #nothingmuchtodo_

 

 _Corn Flakes:_  
Pedro looked over at Balthazar’s breakfast as he took a seat next to him with a muffin and some coffee and said, “Really, Balthazar? Cornflakes?” 

Balthazar stared him down and replied, “don’t mess with the classics."

Pedro nodded. “Fair enough.” 

 

 _Blanket:_  
Pedro sat on his tablet next to Balthazar on the couch in the green room. Eventually Pedro looked to his left and saw that Balthazar had fallen asleep next to him. Smiling, He grabbed the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch and threw it over both of them.


	9. Prank (gone wrong)

“Balthazar!” 

Balthazar jolted awake, hitting his head on the bunk above him. “OW!” To his left, Andrew was staring at him grinning wildly. “What the fuck, Andy?”

“Toby, Feste, and I are pranking Malvolio so hard right now! You gotta come see. Grab a coat!”

“Huh?” asked Balth, rubbing his eyes.

Andrew reached forward and grabbed Balthazar’s arm, yanking him out of his bunk and onto the floor. “You’re going to miss it!” 

Muttering a string of curses under his breath, Balthazar got up off the floor. He shoved his bare feet into his boots, grabbed his phone, and pulled on his winter coat before following Andrew off the bus. 

They wound through a few cars and trailers until they came across Toby, Feste, and to Balthazar’s great surprise one of the assistant stage managers, Maria, hiding behind one of the trucks. Feste smiled when he saw them and waved them over. 

“She should be here any second now,” whispered Feste. 

“What’s going on?” Balthazar asked quietly.

"We know you hate Malvolio as much as we do. We thought you'd like to see this." Toby gestured to look around the truck. Balthazar’s eyes widened when he saw Malvolio pacing up and down in front of Olivia (their tour manager) and Maria’s bus. He was wearing a leather jacket and bright yellow skinny jeans. 

Balthazar brought a hand to his mouth to stop himself from laughing and turned back towards the others. “What did you do?” 

Maria grinned. “He may or may not have found a letter from Olivia describing her love for a man under her supervision and wondering what he would look like in a leather jacket and yellow skinny-jeans.”

“Olivia hates all of those things, though.” Balthazar would know. He’d been on the receiving end of her rants a few weeks prior. 

_“It’s your only flaw, Balth. You wear skinny jeans. So tragic,”_ she had said. He knew Olivia was mostly joking; he doubted she actually cared what he wore. 

“Also she’d never say those things in a letter…” Balthazar trailed off as he realized what they had done. “You are horrible people.” 

Maria pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket. Balthazar just made out the top line reading ‘Dear Maria,” before Feste had pulled out a lighter and set fire to the thing. 

***

The rest of the night just went downhill from there. Toby swore up and down that they never intended on getting Malvolio arrested; they had only wanted Olivia to fire him. 

The glare Maria gave him was incredible. “Who cares about what happened to Malvolio! What about Olivia? He tried to grope her and kiss her against her will! We made that happen! At least Feste called the police.” She grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. “I’m going to make sure she’s alright.” 

Balthazar asked Maria to text him about how Olivia was doing before leaving Feste, Toby, and Andrew behind. He wasn’t happy that he’d gotten caught up in all of this. 

As he walked, he felt his phone buzz. It was a text from Pedro. 

_Are you up? Did you see the lights?_

_I was there. Meet me outside. I’ll tell you what happened._


	10. Crime

_**HEADLINES** _

_Twelfth Night Tour Assistant Stage Manager Arrested for Public Indecency and Harassment_  
 _Roadie Saves What You Will Drummer After Car Slides Into Frozen River_  
 _Tour Manager Olivia Lennox Resigns In Wake Of Brother’s Death_  
 _European Leg of What You Will’s Twelfth Night Tour Postponed_

 

**A Letter To Ticket Holders of European Tour:**  
Due to recent events, What You Will regret to inform you that the European leg of the Twelfth Night tour has been postponed. Refunds will be given if you cannot attend on the new dates. Band members wish to convey their deepest apologies to their European fans. 


	11. Magic

It was Pedro’s last night before the tour ended and he couldn’t sleep. He was the hotel room he was sharing with Tony staring at the ceiling like he had been for the past couple hours. He’d gone to bed early to try to take advantage of the extra time but no dice. The truth was he didn’t want the tour to end. He didn’t want to go back home. And with the European leg postponed, this really was the end for him. He probably wouldn’t be able to work the new dates. He’d already moved everything around once.

Pedro’s phone buzzed and he picked it up, wondering who would be texting him at this hour.

Balthazar: _Can’t sleep._

Ah. That’s who. _Me neither._

Pedro stared at his phone, waiting for a response. Finally one came.

Balthazar: _They are playing old Christmas movies on TV. Room 543._

Smiling, Pedro got up. He dug through his bag in the dark so he wouldn’t wake Tony and pulled on a hoodie over his shirt. He thought about socks and shoes but all the floors in the hotel were carpet so he decided to venture out barefoot.

When he reached room 543 he knocked. The door opened almost immediately and Pedro was greeted with the adorable scene of Balthazar standing in front of him wearing black pajama bottoms, a Flight of the Conchords t-shirt, and glasses, far from his usual look. “Hi,” the musician said.

“Hi,” replied Pedro with a smile. “I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

Balthazar stepped back to let Pedro through. “Yea, I have terrible vision. Dad did too, apparently.”

The room was actually more like a suite and Pedro really shouldn’t have been surprised. Balthazar pointed at a closed door. “Sebastian’s asleep.”

“How’s he doing?”

Balthazar sat down on the couch in front of the muted television. “Still pretty shaken up. He still feels bad for not playing the last few nights, though.”

“What were he and Tony doing out driving in that weather, anyway?” asked Pedro, taking a seat beside Balthazar.

“I don’t know. He doesn’t want to talk about it.”

Pedro looked at the screen. “So what movie are you watching?”

“Frosty the Snowman,” replied Balthazar as he unmuted the tv.

After a few minutes Pedro said, “it’s nice to be in a place with snow around Christmas.”

Balthazar shrugged. “I dunno. I was never all that into Christmas.”

“Really? What about the magical dancing snowman in front of us?”

“What about it?”

Pedro rolled his eyes and sat back on the couch. He ended up watching Balthazar more than the movie, though. He was really going to miss him. Would they keep in touch? Pedro hoped so, but with Balthazar being famous and everything he just didn’t know. He hadn’t meant to make friends with the guy but now he couldn’t really imagine life any other way.

“Are you going to be back in New Zealand for New Years?” asked Pedro. He knew the band had some Christmas commitments but he had no idea if they extended into the new year.

Balthazar turned towards him, head tilted to the side. “I dunno. We all got invited to parties in the States and in Europe. I’d love to be back home though.”

“Well if you need a backup plan to all those fancy parties… I always have a New Years party at my place. Not like a huge party, just me and like, five or so people. There won’t be five hundred dollar champagne or anything but there’ll be twenty dollar champagne. And there will be enough for everyone to have maybe… one glass?”

“How on earth am I going to pass that up?” replied Balthazar, smiling.

Pedro smiled back at him. “Ursula is invited as well, of course. I think she and Bea would get along well.”

Balthazar nodded. “Thanks, Pedro.”


	12. Cold

The last show went just about as well as they all could have hoped. Since Malvolio had been gone there was more work for everyone but everything ran much smoother. Because it was the last show, more needed to be done and everything took much longer. 

By the time everything was done Balthazar was nowhere to be found. Pedro stopped Maria, who had taken over for Olivia, and asked if she knew where Balthazar was.

"I think I saw him getting on the bus with the rest of the band," she replied. 

Pedro walk/ran out the door to where the buses were. To his dismay the bus with the guys was running and it looked like it was about to pull away. 

_So much for a goodbye,_ thought Pedro. He stood and watched the bus as it drove off, giving a little wave in case Balthazar could see him. A few seconds later he got a text. 

Balthazar: _Go back inside. It’s fucking cold out :)_

Pedro looked up and smiled at the back of the bus then turned back towards the door. 

***

Balthazar walked away from the window and over to his bunk. He settled down just as a new text came in. 

Pedro: _Have fun in New York!_

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath then called Ursula. 

"Hey, Balthazar," she said when she picked up.

"Is it a requirement that I go to a New Years party with the rest of the band?" he asked. 

"I think Moriah would prefer it but, no, I don’t think so." Moriah was the band’s publicist. "Why?" asked Ursula. 

"There’s this party in New Zealand I want to go to."


	13. Sebastian

The weeks leading up to Christmas were the slowest Balthazar had ever experienced. It shouldn’t have been; he barely got a day off. Between American talk shows and performances and traveling, it wasn’t until the day before Christmas eve that the band finally got a day off. 

Balthazar slept in until two in the afternoon. When Balthazar emerged from his room in the suite he was surprised and happy to see Sebastian up and scrolling through his iPad. The drummer usually slept in way past the time Balthazar got up. 

“Hey,” said Balth, rubbing sleep from his eye under his glasses.

Sebastian looked up and smiled. “Don’t sound so surprised. I got to sleep at around nine last night.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Seb?” joked Balth as he went to make some coffee at the bar. 

“Fuck off!” 

Balthazar laughed and ran his hand through his hair. When he got the coffee going he pulled his phone out of the pocket of his hoodie and checked his messages. There was one from Pedro. 

_They finally got your interview with Letterman up! It was great :)_

Trying to hide his grin, Balth replied: _Glad you got to see it :) Had more fun on Good Morning America to be honest._

“You’re terrible at keeping a straight face, Balthy.” 

Without looking up, Balthazar replied, “Shut up.” 

This was his and Sebastian’s entire friendship. Generally Seb was a pretty quiet, laid back guy but he loved giving people a hard time. It had taken a while for Balth to get used to and eventually he was able to dish it right back. They usually only talked in hotel rooms or when they were the only two in a room. 

“Pedro?” 

This time Balthazar did look up. “What?”

Sebastian gestured towards Balthazar’s phone. “Is that who you’ve been texting the entire time? The roadie?”

Balthazar was surprised. He didn’t really think Seb would be curious enough to ask. At first Balth debated not answering but he knew Seb would be able to tell just by his reaction. With no heat behind his voice Balthazar replied, “Yeah. What’s it to you?”

“Nothing. I just didn’t realize you two were that close.” 

“I mean, we’re friends. Kind of like you and Tony.” 

Sebastian huffed and looked back down at his iPad. “He thought we were close. I mean, he was fine but I never thought of him as a friend.”

That was unexpected. “So why…” Balthazar stopped himself from asking the full question but Seb figured it out anyway. 

“So why was I out driving with him?” Sebastian leaned his head back against the couch and looked at the ceiling. “We had the day off, right? Well he told me there was this small restaurant outside the city he really wanted to try and he knew I had a permit to drive in the States. It wasn’t snowing when we left. I guess he decided that driving near a river in near white-out conditions was the perfect time to tell me he was in love with me.” 

“Shit,” replied Balthazar. 

Sebastian closed his eyes. “I shouldn’t have lost control. Hit my head on the window before the airbags went off. I’m just thankful he was able to pull me out before the car got dragged down.” 

The coffee maker finished and Balthazar poured himself a mug. Something bothered him. “Why are you telling me this?” Balthazar was far from Sebastian’s closest friend in the band. Duke and Andrew were closer to him. 

“Figured you wouldn’t be cruel. Could you imagine Duke? He already won’t shut up about it. If he found out that Tony…” Sebastian trailed off then took a deep breath. “And he’d give you shit as well. More than usual.”

“What about Andrew?”

Sebastian raised and eyebrow. “You really think he could keep a secret like that from Duke?”

Balthazar hadn’t thought about how Duke would give him crap but he knew Seb was right. Duke made more passive aggressive jokes about Balth than he knew what to do with. “Thanks,” he told Seb.

“No problem bro.” He met Balthazar’s eyes and smirked. “And don’t worry. I won’t mention Pedro to Duke either.”

“Thanks… again.” 

Sebastian gave him a small nod and then sat forward and held up his iPad. “Ever played words with friends? Because I’m pretty sure I could kick your arse.”


	14. Party

“For the record, I still think this is could be a really bad idea,” said Ursula as she pulled up to the curb in front of Pedro’s house.

Balthazar took a deep breath. It was entirely possible that Ursula was correct. This could be a terrible idea. But after being on the go non-stop for the past couple weeks since the tour ended, Balthazar really didn’t want to go to some big LA party. He wanted to be home. And he wanted to see Pedro.

They got out of the car and he walked to the front door with his head down and his guitar over his shoulder. They were a little late. Okay, they were over an hour late. Balthazar rang the doorbell when he got to the door.

***

Pedro looked up from the foosball game when the bell rang. He looked at Hero, who was on the couch. “Can you get that?” He was in a heated match against Beatrice and he really didn’t want to stop.

Hero nodded and got up to get the door. A few moments later they heard the door open and Hero, in a much higher pitched voice than usual, said, “oh my gosh!”

Both Pedro and Beatrice stopped playing to listen. “Hi, Hero,” said a voice coming from the front door. A very familiar voice.

Pedro’s face broke out into a wide grin and he abandoned the game. He rounded the corner and saw Hero, Balthazar and Ursula standing in the entryway. “Hey, guys! I’m glad you could make it!”

Balthazar smiled when he made eye contact with Pedro. The musician was wearing a blue and white patterned button up with a black blazer, more or less his usual look. He’d brought his guitar. “Sorry we’re late.” He glanced at Hero, who was still standing looking starstruck. “I take it you didn’t tell anyone we were coming?”

Pedro ran a hand through his hair. “I know you said you were but I didn’t want to say anything in case you didn’t because you’re…” he motioned vaguely.

“Yeah, I get it,” replied Balthazar.

They all walked back down the hall. Pedro hoped the rest of the introductions would go well. Everyone there knew Pedro was friends with Balthazar so it shouldn’t be too big of a shock. 

***

An hour after he arrived, Balthazar found himself playing foosball on a team with a girl called Meg. Neither of them were very good but they were having a ton of fun. Benedick had created a double elimination tournament bracket and while Balthazar and Meg had won the first game against Hero and Ursula, they lost to Benedick and Claudio and were currently getting killed by Beatrice and Pedro.

“Fuck!” said Meg and Balthazar together as Beatrice managed to get past Balthazar’s defenses yet again to win the game. The teams shook hands and Ben and Claud replaced Balthazar’s team at the table.

“I need a drink!” Meg declared loudly. “Do you want one, Balth?” she asked him.

“Sure,” he replied. Meg disappeared into the kitchen and Balthazar walked over to where Hero was sitting on a couch. “Mind if I sit here?” he asked her.

She smiled and motioned to the spot next to her. “Not at all!”

Balthazar took a seat just as Meg came back with a beer in each hand. She handed one to Balthazar (“Thanks Meg.”) then went over to talk to Ursula.

“So you and Pedro are actually good friends then?” asked Hero.

“I think so. We hung out a lot during the tour.” _In fact so much so when he wasn’t there I found myself missing him all the time and more than once I contemplated calling him just to hear his voice and…_ Balthazar took a sip of his beer to prevent himself from saying any of that out loud.

Hero smiled. “That’s nice. How did you two meet, anyway?”

Balthazar shrugged. “He would always take his break when I was in the green room after shows and we just started talking, I suppose.”

“Well it looked like he had a lot of fun on the tour. At least if his Instagram is accurate.” Hero pulled out her phone. “You know he got about five thousand more followers after he started posting pictures with you in them?”

“Really?” Balthazar asked, eyebrows raised. “I didn’t know that.”

“I mean, I’m not surprised. You don’t really do the social media thing. You have a twitter account but you never use it.” As soon as she finished talking, Hero covered her mouth with her hand and looked away, embarrassed.

Balthazar smiled. “No, you’re right. I don’t, really.” When Hero didn’t look back up he decided to change the subject. “So what’s your favorite song?”

“Well, right now it’s Sparks,” she replied, still looking a little embarrassed. “I’m trying to learn to play it on piano.”

“You play piano?”

***

“Pedro!”

Pedro jumped at Bea’s shout and looked back down at the table. He barely saved a goal from Benedick.

He’d been distracted the entire game. His eyes kept drifting towards Balthazar who was sitting on the couch and having easy conversation with Hero. He didn’t understand why that bothered him so much, but it did. Pedro wasn’t the only one distracted by that though; Claudio was also making mistakes because of his interest in the two.

Bea and Pedro won. Benedick immediately called for a rematch but Pedro didn’t really feel like playing anymore. Instead he wandered over to the couch to see what Hero and Balthazar were talking about.

“Hey, amigos. What are you two talking about?”

Balthazar looked up at him and smiled. “Piano, mostly. Did you win?” he asked, gesturing towards the table.

“We fought a magnificent battle and emerged victorious,” replied Pedro.

“Hey, Pedro!” Pedro looked over his shoulder at Meg. “Do you still have that karaoke machine?”

Pedro shook his head. “Nah, it stopped working a few years ago so we got rid of it.”

“Balthazar brought a guitar,” said Hero, innocently.

They ended up doing faux-karaoke with Balthazar on guitar and Pedro occasionally joining in to beatbox. Notable numbers included Hero, Meg, and Beatrice singing Dog Days are Over, the guys singing an old Backstreet Boys song, and Benedick and Beatrice (after much argument over which part each would take) doing a rendition of Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenocerous. Pedro also managed to talk Balthazar into singing Sigh No More like he had at Red Rocks for the group.

***

Eventually after they’d each had a few drinks (minus Beatrice and Ursula, who were driving later), the group went outside to sit around the fire pit the Donaldsons had in the back. Balthazar was so glad he was there with Ursula, Pedro, and Pedro’s friends. They were all such wonderful people and he knew he’d be having a lot less fun at a loud, packed L.A. party. These were the type of people he wanted to hang around with more often.

When it grew closer to midnight they all went back inside and turned on the tv to watch the celebrations. Balthazar shared the couch with Pedro, Beatrice, and Hero. It was a tight fit with all of them but it meant Balthazar was pressed up against Pedro and he really couldn’t see anything wrong with that. He was happy. Not just happy, he was content. Everything was right in the world. Balthazar closed his eyes, smiling.


	15. Sleepover

Pedro was drunk. Okay so he wasn’t really really drunk, but he was drunk enough to feel really good about everything. And drunk enough for his head to swim when they all stood up to cheer and ring in the new year. And drunk enough watch Balthazar give Hero a hug and contemplate the the consequences of kissing him. Okay maybe he was really drunk.

***

Balthazar couldn’t look at Pedro when the new year came. He didn’t trust himself to make good decisions after having a few drinks. Instead he gave Hero, Ursula and Bea hugs.

The commotion died down and the time for midnight kisses had passed and finally Balthazar let himself turn back towards the couch. Pedro was still standing there. He was watching Balthazar with an almost confused expression on his face. Balthazar tilted his head to the side. “You okay?”

Pedro’s eyes widened and he stood up a little taller. “Hmm? Yeah. Yeah, fine.” He shook his head a little then walked straight past Balthazar to the kitchen.

***

Ursula watched Pedro retreat into the kitchen. Balthazar looked at the ceiling for a few moments before crashing on the couch.

Balthazar had come out to her about a year ago and she was still one of the few people including the band who knew. Ursula doubted he’d told Pedro. Balthazar used to be really close to everyone in the band. After he came out to them, though, everything changed. They weren’t outwardly aggressive or anything and the change wasn’t noticeable to most but they acted differently enough that Balthazar started feeling like an outsider. Nothing was ever the same. Ursula had seen the effect it had on Balthazar and knew he would do anything to prevent that from happening again.

She’d never talked to Balthazar about Pedro beyond small-talk but she knew Balthazar liked him. When she’d told Balthazar she thought the party could be a really bad idea she wasn’t just thinking about Pedro’s friends. Pedro held a lot of power over Balthazar and she didn’t want to see Balthazar get hurt. She was fairly certain Pedro would never do anything purposefully to hurt him but Ursula had become protective of Balthazar over the last few years.

Pedro re-entered the room, champagne in hand, and stopped just inside the doorway. She wasn’t even sure he’d seen her. He had a small smile on his face and was staring intently at Balthazar, who was curled up on the couch with his eyes shut.

Pedro closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. Ursula took a few steps backward and out the door to the hall. She decided not to worry too much about it. Pedro had proven to be a good friend to Balthazar and she didn’t want to take that away from him. Besides, it wasn’t Ursula’s place to make those kinds of decisions for Balthazar and she had to respect that.

***

Everyone stayed for another hour after midnight to drink the champagne before Beatrice started rounding everyone up to leave. Pedro went in search of Balthazar and found him still on the couch, asleep.

Ursula appeared at his shoulder. “He hasn’t really slept in about twenty-four hours. I’m not really surprised.”

“I don’t really want to wake him up.”

Ursula looked at him. “Can you give him a ride back to his house in the morning, then?”

Pedro couldn’t help but feel like he had passed some sort of a test then gotten thrown headfirst into another one. “Of course.”

“Alright then.” She looked him up and down then smiled. “I’m glad he met you, Pedro. He needed some good friends.” The ‘now don’t screw things up’ was implied. She dug through her bag and placed a small pouch on the coffee table. “His glasses.”

Everyone left the house and Pedro wandered back to the room that held the sleepy musician. He took the blanket off the top of the couch and draped it over him. He went to the kitchen to grab a notepad and wrote:

_Balthazar,_

_Ursula and I didn’t want to wake you up because we knew how little sleep you’ve gotten. I’ll give you a ride back when you wake up. If I’m not awake yet my room is the second on the left down the hall. Throw something at me. That should wake me up._

_PEDRO OUT_

***

In the morning, Balthazar opened his eyes then sat up quickly. He realized he was still at Pedro’s house. There was a note on the coffee table in front of him next to the bag Ursula always kept his spare glasses and contact container in. He switched them out as his eyes were burning then read the note.

As it turned out he didn’t have to wake Pedro up. His voice was filtering in from the kitchen. He appeared to be on the phone with someone. Balthazar got up followed the voice.

“No, mum, I didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t tell me when he left… Mum, you didn’t do anything wrong. John’s just… I’ll try to talk to him later, alright?” Pedro looked up at him when he got to the kitchen. “Mum, I have to go. I’ll talk to him. I promise… love you too. Bye.”

***

Sure, Balthazar could have picked a better time to wake up but Pedro was still glad to see him. “Hey Balth. Hope you didn’t mind Ursula and I not waking you up.”

Balthazar rubbed his eye and Pedro thought it was adorable and he stored that observation away with the others for further contemplation later. “Nah, it’s fine,” he replied.

“Do you want any breakfast?” Pedro asked, grabbing a cup to fill with water so he could take some ibuprofen. It wasn’t the worst hangover he’s had but it could be better.

“I think I’m alright. I probably should be getting back though.”

Ten minutes later they were in Pedro’s car. Balthazar gave Pedro directions here and there but other than that most of the ride was quiet. It wasn’t awkward though, which was good.

Balthazar’s house was nothing huge or extravagant but Pedro still thought it looked really nice. “I’d invite you in,” said Balthazar, “but I think you should go home and try to get rid of your hangover.”

Of course Balthazar noticed that. Pedro was a little disappointed but the guy was right. “Some other time, then?” he asked.

Balthazar smiled, walking backwards. “Some other time.” He turned and ran up the steps to the front door.

Pedro made sure Balthazar got in the door before he started driving. He’d only pulled forward a few meters before his phone beeped.

Balthazar: _How about Wednesday?_

Pedro: _Sounds perfect!_


	16. Olives

“All I’m saying is… What if relationships are like… Olives?”

Pedro raised his eyebrows at Benedick, who was lying on his bed. “You’re comparing Beatrice to olives?”

“Who said anything about Beatrice?” replied Ben, defensively.

Pedro smiled and looked at the ceiling. “You’re right. Continue.”

“It’s like, olives are an acquired taste, right? What if relationships are the same way?”

Pedro looked down at his hands.“Or maybe, like, broccoli.”

Benedick sat up, “What?”

“I don’t know, like, you were always told you wouldn’t like it growing up but you’ve always eaten it and then one day you realized you actually liked it a lot and always have just never acknowledged it.”

“…I think I’m going to stick with my olive metaphor but nice try mate.”


	17. Family

“Why were you even there? You had to have known it was trespassing! It was New Years. Cops are always on high alert.”

“...”

“Bro…”

“...”

“Look, I know you’ve been depressed-”

“How could I be depressed? There’s nothing wrong with my life.”

“Mum and dad don’t deserve this, John. Why do you keep doing things like this?”

“...”

“Now where are you going?”

“Out.”

“For how long?”

“...”

“Bro, you can’t just leave.”

“I’m of age. If I don’t want to be here I don’t have to be.”

“Actually, you do. When they bailed you out that was one of the conditions.”

“What?”

“Mum didn’t want to tell you. She gave you the benefit of doubt.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“It’s for your own good.”

“Get out of my way, Pedro.”

“Only if you promise to come home tonight.”

“Fine. Now move.”

“…”


	18. Disgusted

Balthazar could not sit still. Pedro would be here any second and he kept running around the place making sure everything looked alright.

Finally the back doorbell rang and Balthazar ran down the stairs towards the door. One of the reasons he chose this house was while the front door faced the street, the garage and the driveway opened up towards the back so people could park back there without being seen.

He was almost to the door when he slid to a stop on the tile floor to make sure his hair looked okay in the mirror on the door that led to the basement. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a sweater that was slightly too big for him because that’s what he usually wore when he was hanging around his house. When he was happy with his hair he turned back to the door, telling himself he really shouldn’t be this nervous but the voice in his head wasn’t very convincing.

Balthazar opened the door to reveal Pedro, who was also wearing dark jeans and a sweater (though Pedro’s sweater fit him and was a uniform dark blue while Balthazar’s was patterned). Pedro’s sleeves were pushed up to his elbows and Balthazar thought it was a very good look for him.

Pedro smiled at him. “Hi!”

“Hey,” he replied, taking a step back to let Pedro in. “Welcome.”

“Wow. It’s nice,” said Pedro, sliding his shoes off. “Very clean.”

Balthazar scratched the back of his head. “I might’ve cleaned a bit.”

He showed Pedro all around the house and they ended up on the first floor, which Balthazar had completely dedicated to music.

Balthazar was seated at the large piano and Pedro was sitting beside him throwing out random songs for him to try to play. With a few mistakes, Balthazar was able to play every one of them.

“Okay, I’m impressed,” said Pedro.

“Was I not impressive before now?” Balthazar asked, head tilted and smirking.

Pedro’s eyes widened. “No! No, you were! Are!”

Balthazar smiled. “Okay good. Just checking. Because I am impressive.”

“Hey,” said Pedro standing, “do you mind if I put a clip of you playing on Instagram?”

“Hero was right, then!”

“What?”

“She told me you were just using me to get more followers on Instagram.”

Balthazar had meant it as a joke but Pedro appeared to have taken the comment seriously. He looked him dead in the eyes and said, “no. I swear I’m not. You’re just a wonderful person and I just want other people to know that.”

That was something Balthazar had discovered about Pedro. He would say things so sincerely it would take Balthazar longer than usual to formulate a response. “Erm… Thank you… And Hero didn’t actually say that. She just said you’ve gotten more followers,” Balthazar added.

“I just want to make sure you know that I’m friends with you for you, not anything else.”

At that Balthazar smiled a bit. “I know.” And he did. “So what do you want me to play?” he asked, gesturing to Pedro’s phone.

“Oh! …um. You pick.”

Balthazar thought for a second and remembered a conversation he’d had with Ursula the other day about Disney movies. He played ‘Not in Nottingham.’

When he was done Pedro asked, “that was Robin Hood, wasn’t it?”

“Yea. It was my favorite growing up,” replied Balthazar. He stood up and made his way over to one of the couches.

Pedro followed him. “I really liked Hercules. I think Meg’s pretty hot.”

Balthazar didn’t really know how to respond to that so he just shrugged.

“Esmerelda is too. You know, from the Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

“She’s, erm… not really my type, I guess,” said Balthazar, hands playing with the cuffs of his sweater. He really didn’t like where this was going.

Pedro leaned back on the couch. “How about… Belle? …Aurora?”

“Pedro can you just drop it?”

He didn’t seem to hear him, “ …Rapunzel? …Mulan? Come on, bro, there’s gotta be someone-”

"There is, it’s just-"

"Who is it then?"

“David.”

There was silence and Balthazar risked a glance at Pedro. His eyes were wide and his eyebrows were raised. Balthazar didn’t really want to face what might happen just yet, he needed to brace himself, so he stood up and walked over to the stairs. Without looking back he said in the strongest voice he could. “I’m gay.”

***

_Pedro, you piece of trash,_ Pedro told himself as Balthazar disappeared down the stairs. You just pressured one of your best friends into coming out when he might not have wanted to. He was disgusted with himself, really. He wanted to set things right as soon as possible but he wasn’t sure if he would be welcome just yet.

He sat on the couch, alternating between being mad at himself and being mad at society, for both creating the automatic assumption that everyone was straight and the need for coming out, and being mad at himself, for falling into that. (He also tried to his best to ignore the flicker of hope that had appeared because now really wasn’t the appropriate time to be thinking about that.)

About fifteen minutes passed and Balthazar hadn’t reappeared so Pedro pulled out his phone and texted him. _Can I come down?_

Balthazar’s text came several minutes later.

Balthazar: _yes_

Pedro took a deep breath and headed down the stairs. He found Balthazar in the kitchen making what looked like pancakes. “Hey,” said Pedro hesitantly.

Balthazar’s eyes flicked up for a moment then back down at the pan. “Hey.”

“I’m sorry.”

The musician froze. “What for?”

“Would you have come out to me just now if I hadn’t pushed you.”

“…No.’

Pedro ran a hand through his hair. “Then I’m sorry. That was a shit thing for me to do.”

Balthazar when back to his pancakes. Pedro watched him for a few seconds before the silence was too much. “So, David huh? From Lilo and Stitch?”

“…yeah,” replied Balthazar, finally looking at him again.

Pedro nodded. “Okay. Cool. So… surfer-types?”

***

So far Pedro seemed to be taking the news pretty well. Balthazar didn’t disagree when Pedro said it had been a shit thing to do because it was. But Pedro had apologized for it, and Balthazar figured he could probably forgive him. Maybe things would be okay. Balthazar let out a small laugh, partially out of relief but also out of embarrassment from the question. Actually he’d originally liked David because he thought he had a cool haircut. He couldn’t exactly tell Pedro that. He’d given too much away already.

“Nah. It doesn’t hurt but… David was just… very accepting and kind. And I always liked that about him.”

Pedro smiled. “Alright.”

Balthazar looked back at his pancakes and flipped them over. They looked to be about done. “Do, ah, you want a couple pancakes?” he asked Pedro.

“Sure. But… why pancakes?”

It was a valid question. “They were the first thing I ever learned how to make. Also Mum would always make them when I was stressed about something. I ate a lot of them when I was learning guitar.” Balthazar grabbed two plates from the cupboard and divided the pancakes between them. He brought them over to the table.

Pedro followed him. “I want to apologize again about that. I had no intentions to-”

“Pedro. I believe you, alright? I do. Just don’t tell anyone.”

“Not a soul.”

“Great. Can you grab some forks? They’re in the top right drawer.” Balthazar got some butter and syrup and blueberries from the fridge.

A few minutes later Pedro had all but cleaned his plate. “Bro, can I get the recipe for these? They are so good!”

“Ummm, no. I think I’ll keep it my secret,” replied Balthazar, grinning.

“Oh, come on!”

“You’ll just have to come over again sometime.”

“You just text me the word ‘pancakes’ and I will be here.” Pedro said seriously.

Balthazar smiled down at his plate. If that was true, then everything was going to be okay.


	19. Clothes

Pedro was at Balthazar’s. Things seemed to be going better since the first time he was over. Pedro apologized several more times and Balthazar forgave him each, even though Pedro still couldn’t really forgive himself. 

He climbed the stairs, tea in hand, to find Balthazar sitting on the floor surrounded by packages. He set both mugs down on the closest coffee table. “What is all this?”

Balthazar was cutting the tape off a small box. “Ursula brought over a bunch of mail earlier today.”

Pedro sat down against the couch close to Balthazar. “So, fanmail? I didn’t know they send packages.”

“Usually it’s less than this. I haven’t actually looked at anything since before Christmas so I’m assuming a lot of these are from that.” Finally Balthazar got the package open. He pulled out a note, read it, smiled, then from the box pulled a small stone carving of a flamingo. “She made these for all her friends, apparently,” he told Pedro, handing it to him.

“Wow. It’s really nice! Intricate.” Pedro handed it back to him.

Balthazar continued to open the packages. Pedro had just as much fun watching Balthazar open them as the musician did actually opening them. He was surprised by how many shirts the guy got.

“Yea, I never have to buy shirts anymore. People just send them to me,” replied Balthazar when Pedro commented on it. “I don’t know why they do that but it’s really nice of them.”

A few minutes later Balthazar was reading a letter and laughed. “Oh my God.”

“What?” asked Pedro.

“This girl Caitlin. She talks in the letter about how she’s made these flower crowns and then at the end she says, ‘also if you see Pedro, the other one’s for him. I love his Instagram. You two seem to be friends.’” Balthazar put the letter aside then pulled the crowns out from the box. He handed one to Pedro. They were made of fake flowers (which was probably for the best) but they looked pretty nice.

Pedro put his on and Balthazar did the same. They smiled at each other and before they knew it they were laughing.

“Okay, these are fantastic,” said Pedro after they calmed down a bit. “Do you mind if I put a picture of us wearing them on Instagram?”

Balthazar nodded. “Yea, tag her in it too. She put her username in the letter.”

The picture featured both of them with wide smiles. Pedro captioned the photo with:

_I don’t know why you sent me one too but thanks for the flower crowns, Caitlin! #flowercrowns #welookadorable #balthazarjones #exroadielife_

***

Neither of them took off their respective crowns as Balthazar continued to open the boxes. Pedro was amazed at how creative some people were. Among the gifts were a knitted hat, a fleece sweatshirt, and a needle-point featuring lyrics from the What You Will song Sparks, which Balthazar wrote. 

"Do you respond to these?" Pedro asked Balthazar.

"Yeah, I always respond to the packages. I do my best with the letters," replied Balthazar as he pulled out a bag of sweets from someone in Japan. 

Pedro smiled and sat back. He opened Instagram again to see how the photo was doing, even though it'd only been up for a half hour. He was astounded to see that the photo had over 5,000 likes and over a hundred comments. He'd gained over two hundred followers as well. 

Now competently absorbed in his phone, Pedro scrolled through the comments. Most of them said things like "SO CUTE" and "OMG OMG OMG" which he was expecting but several other people left comments saying things like "I ship it" and "#pedrazar". 

_Shit,_ thought Pedro. He knew what shipping was courtesy of Bea and Hero. He didn't really mind but he hoped Balthazar would be okay with it.

Pedro scrolled back up to look at the picture. He wasn't kidding when he'd said they looked adorable. 

"What are you looking at?"

Pedro jumped and saw Balthazar watching him with an amused look on his face. "Hmmm? Oh, just some of the comments on the picture. People really like it."

Balthazar smiled. "Oh, okay. Good." 

Pedro put away his phone. Why was he looking at a picture when the real Balthazar was right in front of him? 

_I am so lucky,_ he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for missing a few days. I had a minor existential crisis that's been building up over the past week or so to the point where yesterday I was curled up in a ball on my bed crying. I went home so I feel a lot better now. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	20. Selfie

A few weeks later, Pedro was out with his parents shopping. He was looking for a birthday present for Balthazar while his parents were on the hunt for a new coffee maker. Pedro was about to turn into a music shop when something stopped him dead in his tracks.

“OH MY GOD.” 

Pedro froze as he made eye contact with the girl who had spoken. Her eyes were wide. “Ummm-” he started but he didn’t really know what to say, or what the hell was going on. 

“You’re Pedro, right?” She asked, taking a few steps closer.

He glanced over at his mum who looked just as nonplussed as he felt. “Yes…?” Pedro replied hesitantly. 

The girl squealed, “I knew it! I follow you on Instagram! It’s amazing! I love your hair! I’m Marie!”

That explained a lot. Pedro cleared his throat. He really had no idea what to do in this situation. “Thanks. That’s… Hi.” 

“Can I get a picture with you to post on my Instagram?” 

Pedro stared at her for a few moments before realizing she was serious. “Uh, yeah sure…Why?”

Marie smiled and pulled out her phone. “Because it will make my friends so jealous!”

Although he was still confused, Pedro posed for a selfie with the girl, mouth closed and one eyebrow raised.

“Thank you so much!” she said. “I’m going to tag you in it, is that alright?” 

“That’s fine,” Pedro replied. 

“Great! Thanks again! Have a great day.” Marie took a few steps before turning back. “Say happy birthday to Balthazar for me!”

As he watched Marie retreat down the sidewalk Pedro’s dad asked, “so what was that all about?”

Pedro shook his head and leaned against the shop window. “She follows me on Instagram I guess.” He ran a hand through his hair and met his mother’s eyes. It was time to explain everything. “You know my friend Balthazar?”


	21. Birthday

When Pedro got to Balthazar’s he grabbed the presents and the cake from the back of his car. Ursula stood holding the door open for him.

“Hi, Pedro.”

“Hey Ursula. When did you say he was going to get here?” he asked, moving past her to put the presents and cake down in the kitchen.

“Should be in a half hour.” Ursula was watching him with a disgruntled look on her face.

“Is something wrong?” he asked hesitantly.

Ursula took a deep breath then sat down on a couch in the room outside the kitchen. “Balthazar’s meeting didn’t go well this morning. He called me a half hour ago.”

Pedro took a seat in an armchair. “What happened?”

“They wanted him to stop hanging around you.”

“What? Why?” asked Pedro loudly. He hadn’t done anything wrong.

Ursula pulled out her phone and tapped the screen a few times. She pulled up the Instagram picture of him and Balthazar wearing the flower crowns from a few weeks previous and held the phone out to Pedro. “You’ve seen the comments, right?”

Pedro scrolled through the comment section of the photo. “Yeah, what about them?”

“Balthazar’s fans have dubbed the two of you ‘Pedrazar’. Do you know what shipping is?”

Yes, as a matter of fact, Pedro was aware of what shipping was. “Yeah, but that’s nothing new. Everyone ships everyone now-a-days. Have you searched One Direction on Tumblr?”

Ursula raised her eyebrows. “Have you?”

“No, but Hero has a Tumblr.” Pedro ran a hand through his hair. “Is it something to do with him actually being gay?” he asked her.

Ursula didn’t seem too surprised that Pedro knew. “It might be. When he came out to them they more or less told him to keep that fact to himself.”

“What?”

“Yea. And really I don’t think anyone in the band but Duke cares, but he is the frontman. And I know Tucker and Moriah don’t like it. They don’t want anything to change the band’s current image.” Tucker was the band’s manager and Moriah was the publicist.

Pedro sat back on the couch. “Well, they’re all idiots.” He ran his hand through his hair again. He didn’t really know what to do. He didn’t want to stop hanging out with Balthazar. He didn’t want to take down the Instagram photos (they were already out in the world anyway). But he also didn’t want to put Balthazar in a bad position. “What did Balth say?”

Ursula smiled this time. “More or less to go to Hell.” Pedro let out a small sigh of relief and Ursula continued. “You’re the best friend he’s had in a long time, apart from me. I wanted you to know in case he seems a little distant.”

Pedro nodded, still a bit upset at Balthazar’s current situation. “But I mean, it’s his birthday! Why would they do that today?”

“Because they’re dicks? Your guess is as good as mine. Now come on. Let’s set up, shall we? And if you want it to be a surprise we need to move your car.”

***

Balthazar pulled in the garage and then just sat in his car for a little while. The drive from the studio wasn’t long enough figure things out. He could not believe Tucker’s nerve. He could be friends with whoever the fuck he wanted. And Moriah. The rest of the band took pictures of themselves with their friends all the time and put them on Instagram, what made the pictures on Pedro’s Instagram any different?

Eventually his phone started ringing. Balthazar was annoyed until he saw it was Pedro. He answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Are you just sitting in your car?”

“Um… yes?”

“Okay, I know this ruins the surprise, but the candles are dripping wax all over the cake so if you could come inside soon that would be great.”

The line cut out and it took Balthazar a second to process what Pedro had just said but when he did, he bolted out of the car. He got in the door, kicked off his shoes (a habit from when he was living with his mum and sister), and rounded the corner to the kitchen.

Pedro and Ursula were standing there with surrounded by novelty birthday decorations and balloons. They were each wearing a party hat. A cake with half-melted candles was sitting on the table between them.

“Finally!” Pedro said at the same time Ursula said, “Surprise!” They were both smiling.

“Oh my god.” Balthazar took a second to take everything in.

“Ursula picked up all of the stuff.”

“Yes, but it was Pedro’s idea in the first place. Also he made the cake.”

“Actually Hero made the cake. I supervised. Can you blow out the candles now? …Balthy?”

Balthazar stepped forwards and blew out the candles. Pedro was right; most of the wax was now on the cake. There was a flurry of movement as Pedro sat Balthazar down at the table and Ursula cut the cake and put a piece on each of the three plates that were sitting there.

All thoughts of the day were pushed to the back of Balthazar’s mind as he let himself get caught up in the mini-party. The band had wished him a happy birthday earlier but these were his two closest friends.

Eventually after cake had been eaten (with a thank you snapchat sent to Hero via Pedro), presents had been opened (Pedro got him a variety of small musical instruments and Ursula got him a vintage acoustic guitar case), and stories had been told, Ursula left to do important official things and Pedro and Balthazar automatically headed upstairs. Balthazar brought the box of musical instruments with him.

“So…how are you?” asked Pedro awkwardly after they sat down.

Balthazar played with the cuffs of his sleeves. “Ursula told you then?”

“…Yea.” Pedro ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I didn’t mean to-”

“Pedro,” said Balthazar, cutting him off. “Shut up. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But-”

“No.” Balthazar stared at Pedro as if he was challenging Pedro to contradict him. “I don’t care what they think, alright? You’re my best friend… and… they don’t get to decide who I hang out with.”

Pedro held his gaze for a few moments before finally nodding. “Okay.”

They spent the next hour messing around with the instruments Pedro had gotten Balthazar. Eventually Balthazar got to playing happy birthday on a pan flute. Pedro pulled out his phone and held it up. Not really caring how much backlash he’d get from Moriah he nodded.

Pedro recorded Balthazar playing happy birthday and at the very end Pedro sang “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOO YOOOOOU!” loudly and poorly.

Balthazar smiled. and looked up at him. “Thanks, Pedro.”

“You’re welcome, Balth.”

Pedro posted the video on Instagram. He wrote:

_A very Happy Birthday to this awesome guy. #andmanymore #balthazarjones #exroadielife #friendsdontletfriendssingHappyBirthdayonkey_


	22. Fanmail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who wrote fanmail for Balthazar on Tumblr!!

Hello Balthazar,

Thanks for being a cool guy. I really like your music, and I gave mom a CD of yours and now she won’t shut up about how incredible your voice is. You’re really talented. Thank you very much for all the work you put in to your music. You deserve all the aspects of your life to be as rich and fulfilling as your music comes across.

Love From,

Vi

***

Hey Balthy! (I hope I can call you Balthy)

I just wanted to say that I’m really impressed by your talent and I was wondering if you ever considered becoming a solo artist? You’re such a great artist, but the band might prevent you from going further. I hope you don’t mind me saying that. Moreover, I need to say that you and your boyfriend Pedro are so cute together. I’m glad you find someone who makes you happy, you deserved it. I hope it will last, you used to look so sad on the pics.

Ana x

***

Dear Balthazar,

My name is Katherine and I went to What You Will’s show in Denver and I loved it! You are such a talented musician and I love everything you do. My favorite parts of the show were when you were singing. Your voice is amazing.

High school has been really rough for me and your songs always help me feel better.

Anyway, I know you probably won’t read this but if you do I want you to know that I love you and I will support you in anything you do!

Love,

Katherine

p.s. I love all-around-great-guy’s instagram. It’s awesome that you two are friends. Is he single? Do you think he’d go to prom with me? I don’t know why I’m asking you this.

***

Hi Balthazar

I’ve never written fanmail before but I just love your music so much and I had to tell you!! I know you probably get told this all the time, but you are so so so talented and your music really touches people. I have been through some things this year and your song ‘Slowly Gently’ has really helped me. So thank you is all I wanted to say. And never stop being awesome!

Love Sophie xxx

***

HI BALTHAZAR!

It’s me again. Molly. I just wanted to wish you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! It looks like you had a good one if Pedro’s Instagram is anything to go by.

Pedro’s such a cutie. I’m glad you guys are friends, and I know that Pedrazar is a thing in the What You Will/Balthazar fandom right now but I ship Pedro with myself! Polly! It’s hard to see pictures of him and not wonder if he’d look good next to you.

As always, I love you and I hope you are doing well!

xoxox

-Molly

***

Dear Balthazar Jones,

Hi! I’m a big fan of you – from the songs you write to the music you play! Actually, if I’m going to be honest, I’m pretty shocked that the songs that you write aren’t usually the ones to become singles, they are most definitely my favorite – without being biased, because I never know you wrote them until I’ve already deemed them my favorite.  
I don’t know if you will actually read this or some agent person two times removed from you will read this – because isn’t that what some famous people do? – anyway, I do actually think it’s you. I am sending this before your birthday in hopes that it will get to you on time, but I’m in America and you’re in New Zealand and I have no idea how long mail will take to travel there… anyway… HAPPY *belated?* BIRTHDAY!

I’ve been following all-around-great-guy on Instagram and watching all the fun things that the two of you seem to be doing (PEDRAZAR FOREVER! Kidding, I’m not one of those crazy fangirls. You two seem like nice friends, at least for the camera). I did see the picture that Pedro had posted of you at the Red Rocks Amphitheater. I really hope that you can perform there one day for a crowd – I had to do some researching to make sure that I hadn’t missed a performance by you, which I was glad to know that I didn’t. I think it would be awesome to see you up on the stage, with or without the band – you could totally do a solo career! I would buy your solo albums for sure, along with about three-fourths of my school.

You rock Balthazar. I love you (in a non-weird, I’m a fan who really loves what you do with music kind of way).

Also, to Pedro: Hi! *waves* I just wanted to let you know that you have awesome hair. I don’t know how you do it, but your hair is a majestic beast and I am jealous.

Okay, that’s the end of my letter now.

Bye!

~Amanda K. / U.S.A

***

To the MIGHTY BALTHAZAR

I am your 100% BIGGEST FAN EVER!! I have enclosed pictures of my bedroom to prove this. AND I hope you like the badges. The ‘I’m with the Roadie’ one is for you (obviously) and the ‘My boyfriend is a rockstar’ one is for Pedro. YOU GUYS ARE THE CUTEST!

Would you possibly, maybe, if it’s not too much hassle, PLEASE send the photo back with your and Pedro’s signature?? (you can use the stamped and addressed envelope and it would literally MAKE MY LIFE)

THANK YOU

Loads of love from your biggest fan in the entire world,

Jane xxxxxxxxxxx

***

Balthazar was well aware of the concept of shipping, as was the rest of the band. The first time he saw a #pedrazar comment on Pedro’s Instagram he was concerned what Pedro would think. Balth was sure Pedro had seen the comments; they were his pictures after all. It didn’t seem to bother him, though.

Letters mentioning Pedro had been getting more and more frequent. Not all of them mentioned the ship but a lot of them did. The problem with this was Balthazar often sat down to read and answer fanmail when he needed to stop thinking about something for a while and clear his mind. Today that something had been Pedro, and it was hard to get the guy out of his head when he kept reading things like, “OMGGGG U GUYS ARE SO CUTE I JUST WANNA SMUSH YOUR FACES TOGETHER!! ;)” and, “Just ‘friends’ huh? *waggles eyebrows suggestively.”

He pulled out the extra envelope, photos, and badges from the last envelope. Maybe it would be easier if Balthazar also didn’t ship himself and Pedro but he did. As he looked at the badges he remembered back to when he first talked to Pedro and he told himself not to ‘get a crush on the roadie.' So much for that plan. 

Balthazar looked over to his piano. Maybe music would help.


	23. SONG

“So, what am I doing here again?” asked Pedro.

Balthazar and Ursula were setting up to film a video of him playing to put on YouTube. They used to do that all the time but since the band had been touring all the time over the past two years the last video they’d posted was over a year back. One camera was on a tripod by the piano and Ursula was freehanding the other one.

“Standing there being the good looking friend,” replied Balthazar. “Just go with it.”

Pedro smiled and looked at the floor. _Damnit, Balthazar._

Over the past few months Pedro had been going over the facts in his head. These facts included but weren’t limited to:

1\. He thought Balthazar was adorable.  
2\. His first thought when he met Hero’s brother Leo was that he was hot.   
3\. He watched Hercules as much for Hercules as he did for Meg.  
4\. There was that time where he briefly thought about making out with Balthazar at his New Years party when he was drunk.  
5\. Also that time where he briefly thought about making out with Balthazar on Balthazar’s birthday when he wasn’t drunk.  
6\. He thought Zac Efron was damn sexy.  
7\. He still really liked girls.

Pedro hadn’t talked to anyone about ‘the facts’. He hadn’t really even admitted to himself what ‘the facts’ meant. It was a bridge he knew he’d have to cross eventually but for now Pedro was content with taking his time getting there.

Finally Balthazar and Ursula stopped running around.

“Okay, I’m all set,” said Ursula, standing near the piano. “Pedro, could you stand over there, please?” She gestured to a spot near where the tripod was set up.

“Will you tell me what’s going on?” he asked as he walked over to stand where Ursula pointed.

“You’ll know soon enough,” said Balthazar. The musician had grabbed a stack of papers from a nearby table and he set them down beside him as he took a seat on the piano bench.

“…Okay.”

Balthazar looked up at Ursula. “Ready when you are.”

Ursula pressed record on the camera on the tripod then took her place by the piano. “…Go for it.”

“Hello internet. The mighty Balthazar here. It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these, but I haven’t exactly been writing very much so there hasn’t been much to share with you. But, erm, that changed. A few days ago I was reading some of your letters, thank you for those by the way, …and I noticed something.”

Balthazar picked up the letters and read.

-“Balthazar, I love all-around-great-guy’s instagram. It’s awesome that you two are friends. Is he single? Do you think he’d go to prom with me? I don’t’ know why I’m asking you this.”

-“Balthy. Please come to Brazil. Bring Pedro too.”

-“To Pedro: Hi! I just wanted to let you know that you have awesome hair. I don’t know how you do it, but your hair is a majestic beast and I am jealous.”

-“If it’s not too much hassle, please send the photo back with your and Pedro’s signature.”

-“I ship Pedro with myself! It’s hard to see pictures of him and not wonder if he’d look good next to you.”

Pedro squeezed his eyes shut as Balthazar read. He brought a hand to his face and ran it through his hair, leaving it at the back of his head. When Balthazar stopped talking Pedro cracked his eyes open. Ursula had turned her camera on him. He gave a small wave.

“So,” Balthazar continued. “Later in the day after I read these I sat at the piano to try to write a song, any song, as I do, and… this happened. Pedro hasn’t heard this before. He’s here because he’s partially to blame. So… this is an ode.”

Balthazar glanced at Pedro briefly before he started playing.

_“It seems it’s about time that these words were spoken…”_

Pedro was both aware of Ursula’s camera alternating between Balthazar and himself, and the stupid grin that spread on his face over the course of the song, but he really didn’t care. Balthazar Jones had written him a song. A full song. And it was good.

The song came to a close and Balthazar caught Pedro’s eye again before turning back to Ursula. “So, that was an ode. I blame all of you. I hope you are happy with yourselves.”

Ursula turned the camera back on Pedro. “Anything to say, Pedro?”

Pedro opened his mouth but it took a few seconds to find words. “I think you’re over-selling me.”

Balthazar raised and eyebrow smiled back at him. “No I’m not.” He looked back at Ursula’s camera. “Anyway. I hope you enjoyed that. Maybe I can get another one of these up before another year passes.”

As Ursula and Balthazar packed up the camera Pedro updated his list of facts. It was unavoidable now, really. There was nothing Pedro could do about it. The new list contained only two facts that nicely summed up everything he’d been thinking about:

1\. He was bisexual.  
2\. He was one hundred percent without a doubt falling in love with Balthazar Jones.


	24. Shopping

Ursula pulled into a parking spot and looked at Balthazar. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.

Earlier in the week she had mentioned to him that she wanted to do some shopping in the city. One of the things Balthazar had been talking to Pedro about a lot was his anxiety when it came to be surrounded by loads of people. It had just always been an issue for him. Pedro made the argument that, knowing how Balth had reacted to the situation in New York (where he famously had the panic attack), people would most likely be very respectful.

Balthazar didn’t like not being able to go out ever. That it was his own anxiety holding him back made it all the more frustrating.

“I’m sure,” he replied. It wasn’t going to be a long outing, and Ursula had asked Dwayne, the band’s security guard, to come along with them. Balth had always liked Dwayne. He was the kind of person who would pin someone against the wall for teasing a hungry dog. “You ready Dwayne?”

“Whenever you are, kid!”

They got out of the car. They hadn’t even made it through the door of the first shop when Balthazar was recognized by two teenage girls.

“Oh my god! Balthazar?”

He smiled a little. “Yeah. What’re your names?”

To his surprise they stayed a nice distance away from him. “I’m Clara and this is Emily!” the first girl said. “We’re huge fans!”

The second girl, Emily, spoke up for the first time. “We loved the video you put on YouTube. Must have watched it twenty times. Pedro’s face was amazing.”

“Also the song was adorable. You’re just so talented.”

Balthazar smiled. “Thank you!”

“Balth, we gotta get going,” said Ursula from a few feet away.

“Alright,” he said. “It was nice meeting both of you,” he told the girls.

“Wait! Umm. Do you think we could get a picture with you?” asked Clara.

The photo went well and the girls said goodbye. Balthazar was relieved that, while he did feel some tension in his chest, his breathing was normal.

They were only out for maybe two hours total and most of Balthazar’s interactions went similarly to the first one. The largest group to approach him was six people and he found that as long as they all stayed in front of him everything was fine.

On the car ride back to the studio to switch cars, Balthazar called Pedro. He wanted to tell him about the experience. Pedro had been right, after all; for the most part everyone was extremely respectful.

Pedro picked up. Before Balthazar could say anything, Pedro spoke. “Hey Balth. Now’s not really a good time. Can I call you back?”

Balthazar was concerned; the guy sounded very stressed. “Yeah. Sure. Everything alright?”

“No, I… I gotta go. I’ll call you later, alright?”

“Take your time. Do what you have to do.”

“Thanks Balthy.”

The call ended and Balthazar stared at his phone. That was not like Pedro at all. As much as he wished he knew what was going on it was obvious now was not the time to push. Instead he opted to send Pedro a text: _Call me if you need anything._

Pedro: _I will._


	25. Letter

"We need to go to the police, Ann. They can track his phone.”

“No. I won’t have him arrested just for running away. He’ll come back.”

“I’m going out to look. I’ll talk to his friends again.”

Pedro sat at the kitchen table with his head in his arms. John had been gone for almost a week now and they still had no idea where he had gone. He’d left without a trace in the middle of the night. His mum didn’t want to go to the police because it would mean if they found John they’d arrest him. She blamed herself in any case.

The front door closed and Pedro got up from the table. He hated feeling like this. He just wished he knew what made John so unhappy that he would leave. Hoping to find some sort of clue he walked down the hall to John’s room. It looked pretty much as it had when they’d first searched the room: impeccably neat.

Pedro walked around the room looking for some clue John might have left them. Eventually he took a seat on the bed. _Damnit, John. Why did you do this?_

Suddenly something caught his eye. It was one of Pedro’s football trophies. What was it doing on John’s shelf? Pedro walked over to it and picked it up. A folded piece of paper was underneath it.

Pedro picked it up and unfolded it. It was a letter. Actually it was more of a note; it wasn’t very long.   
_  
Pedro,_

_I’m not going to tell you where I went. I’m not going to tell you when I’m coming back._

_I couldn’t stay in that house anymore. Not with dad and Ann being so mind-numbingly content. Not with them always apologizing for letting me down whenever I fuck up. They haven’t._

_And then there’s you. God, you’re perfect, aren’t you? The golden boy. Good marks. Soccer trophies. A rockstar boyfriend. All those friends. Why don’t you tell me again how I’ve fallen short of our parent’s expectations? Or should I say your expectations? You never missed the opportunity to tell me how I’ve fallen short._

_You never tried to understand me when I came to live with you, Dad, and Ann. ‘Why couldn’t you just be normal, John? Play along?’ I never wanted to conform and you never seemed to get that._

_I need to be alone._

_Tell your mum it’s not her fault I left. Tell them I’m fine. I’m bringing my phone. If dad’s been bugging Cora tell him to stop. She doesn’t know where I’m going._

_-John_

Pedro read the note over three times before going back to sit on John’s bed. He placed his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. John hated him, didn’t he? It was all his fault.

Taking a deep breath, Pedro pulled out his phone to try calling John again. It went straight to voicemail.

“John… I found your letter. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Just… come home? No one knows where you are. I’m worried about you. Can you just… come and we’ll talk about this? Please? God, who am I kidding? You’re not listening to this.” Pedro ended the call abruptly and stood up. He couldn’t be in John’s room anymore.

He made it to his own room and fell back on his bed. Pedro stared at the ceiling for a while before looking down at the phone in his hand.

***

Balthazar sat on his upstairs couch, picking at his guitar. It had not been a good day. It hadn’t been a good week. Moriah and Tucker were angry with him, Duke vetoed all but one of the songs he’d put forward toward the new album, Ursula had gone out of town a few days ago for a family thing, and on top of all of that he hadn’t heard from Pedro in five days (he wasn’t even going to pretend that he wasn’t counting). He hadn’t even seen the guy since he filmed ‘ODE’ and Balthazar was starting to wonder if he’d done the wrong thing.

Suddenly his phone started playing the intro to Glare (Pedro’s favorite song) from across the room. He froze for a second before (gently) throwing his guitar to the side and running to pick it up.

“Pedro?”

“Hey, Balth.” Pedro sounded exhausted.

“Everything alright?”

Pedro exhaled heavily. “No… Um… John disappeared a few days ago. We don’t know where he is, and I found this… note he left and it more or less says that he left because I’m a horrible brother.”

“Oh.” It was a spectacularly unhelpful response and Balthazar smacked himself on the forehead for it. On one hand he was relieved that Pedro’s radio silence had nothing to do with him but on the other Balth hated that Pedro was having what had to be a worse week than he was.

Pedro didn’t respond but Balthazar knew he was still there because he could hear him breathing through the phone. He tried desperately to figure out why Pedro had called him and he came to the conclusion that he needed to be distracted. Balthazar looked over at his guitar. “Hang on,” he said through the phone.

Balthazar walked back over to the couch and sat down, setting his phone on speaker. “Can you hear me?”

“Yes.”

At the risk of sounding insensitive and self-obsessed, Balthazar said, “Um.. I’ve been working on a new song. The lyrics are from the poem that ‘Sigh No More’ was based on. Would, um, you like to hear it?”

“Please.”

Balthazar tuned the guitar as quickly as he could, checked to make sure Pedro was still there, and started to play.

“Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more…”

He was aware while he was playing it that maybe it wasn’t the most comforting song he could have played but he still hoped it helped.

The song came to an end and Pedro didn’t didn’t speak up right away so Balthazar said, “I’m still perfecting the middle part but.. I hope you liked it.”

“I did. You’re… amazing… Can you, um, keep playing?” Pedro asked hesitantly.

“What do you want me to play?”

“Anything. Please.”

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so if the part at the beginning about arresting John didn't make sense, when John and his friends got caught trespassing one of the requirements in his bail was that he would stay at home. If the DonaldParents were to ask police assistance he would be arrested for breaking that. If that makes sense. :P Apparently it's a thing. Anyway. Thanks for reading!!!


	26. Words (or lack of)

A week went by after finding John’s letter. Benedick was over at Pedro’s playing Super Smash Brothers to try to cheer him up, but Pedro’s heart wasn’t really in it.

“It’s like you aren’t even trying!” said Ben as he won his fourth straight game.

The doorbell rang. At first Pedro thought it was John but then he remembered that John had a key and would probably just let himself in.

Both of Pedro’s parents were out so he stood up to go get the door. To his surprise standing on the other side of the door was Balthazar. His car was by the curb.

“Balthazar!” The musician looked up at him but something was off. “You okay, bro?” It was like he couldn’t get Pedro’s face in focus which didn’t make sense because he was wearing his glasses.

Very slowly Balthazar shook his head.

“You breathing alright?” Pedro asked, wondering if Balth was having a panic attack.

This time Balthazar nodded. His breathing was fine.

Relieved, Pedro stepped back from the door. “Get inside.”

Balthazar stepped across the threshold and Pedro closed the door behind him. He didn’t really know what to do. “What happened?” he asked, because something had to have happened.

The musician shook his head again. He obviously didn’t want to talk about it.

“Well, Ben and I were playing Super Smash Brothers. Come sit on the couch with me. You can play too if you want.”

Balthazar followed him over to the couch, still apparently in a daze. Pedro really didn’t know how he had driven here.

“Hey, Balthy!” said Ben. His voice was upbeat but Pedro could tell from his face that Ben was concerned as well. “Welcome. I’ve been destroying Pedro the past half hour. Please bear witness to his noble yet feeble attempts to take down Link the great and powerful!”

“Shut it, Ben!” replied Pedro as he took a seat. Balthazar sat down directly next to him, despite there being much more room on the couch.

Ben and Pedro played through several more tournaments only this time Pedro was actually trying. The two trash talked each other the entire time while Balthazar sat silently at Pedro’s side.

Pedro’s phone rang in the middle of one of Ben’s matches. He saw it was from Ursula and stood up to take the call in the kitchen. Hopefully she could give him some answers to Balthazar’s behavior. She usually could.

“Hey, Urs. What-”

“Is Balthazar with you?” Ursula asked, cutting him off.

“Yeah. Yeah. He’s here. He’s not talking though. It’s like he’s in a daze. What happened?” Pedro asked quietly.

“Thank god. I thought he’d gone home but when I got there he wasn’t there. He’s not answering his phone. I was hoping he was with you.” She took a breath, as if gearing herself up for something. “Balthazar left the band today.”

“What?”

“I’m not sure how much you’ve been talking to him this past week but I’m sure you know things with the band haven’t been smooth sailing and clear skies for a while now. This week it just got worse.”

Pedro leaned back against the countertop and ran a hand through his hair. “Was it because of the song?”

“The song certainly didn’t help. I don’t know everything. I just got back in town three days ago and he told me he’d made up his mind to leave. It wasn’t too messy but there were lawyers and a whole lot of yelling between him and Duke. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Balth that intense.”

“Shit.”

“After we got out of the building, though, he got very quiet. I think it was just starting to sink in. I don’t think he’ll do anything stupid but you know me.”  
Pedro smiled a bit. “Yes, I do. I’ll try to get him to stay here tonight.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard. Thanks, Pedro. I’ve got to go but I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Bye Urs.” Pedro hung up the phone and closed his eyes. He wished Balth had told him how things were going. Maybe he could have given him some sort of emotional support. Pedro guessed that Balthazar had kept quiet because he knew Pedro was going through a rough time as well, but friendship was a two-way street and at the moment Pedro was feeling like a shit friend.

When he got back in the room, Balthazar was lying on his side with his head where Pedro had been sitting so Pedro took a seat on the floor in front of him on the couch. Ben thankfully didn’t ask what the call was about. He had a lot of tact when he wanted to.

Eventually the sun dropped below the horizon. Ben decided it was time for him to go home and Pedro thanked him for being there. Balthazar had fallen asleep on the couch so Pedro went to his room to grab a blanket for him. After that he sat in the kitchen with tea and waited for his parents to arrive home.

Mrs. Donaldson was the first through the door and Pedro put his finger to his lips.

“What is it?” she asked quietly as her husband stepped through the door behind her.

“Balthazar’s over. He had a rough day and fell asleep on the couch. Can he stay the night?” Pedro had gotten his parents up to speed on his friendship with Balthazar a few weeks back when a stranger had commented on Pedro’s instagram while he was out with them.

Mrs. Donaldson smiled. “Of course he can stay. We’ll try not to bother him when we get up in the morning.”

His parents retreated to their room and Pedro went back to check on Balthazar. The musician’s glasses were askew on his face so Pedro slowly pulled them off and set them on the side table by Balthazar’s head. Without really thinking about it he gently ran his hand through Balth’s hair.

“Goodnight,” he whispered. He walked towards the hallway and with one last look back at his sleeping friend, turned off the lights.


	27. Food

Balthazar woke up to the sound of a door slamming. His glasses had been removed from his face so he couldn’t really see anything but there was daylight coming through windows. He figured that Pedro must have removed his glasses and put them somewhere nearby. Balthazar felt the side table by where his head had been and sure enough, there they were.

Noise was coming from the kitchen. He pushed the blanket (which also was probably Pedro’s doing) out of the way and stood to walk to the kitchen. When he rounded the corner he found Mrs. Donaldson pulling a mug out of a cupboard. She looked up and smiled a friendly but tired smile. “Balthazar! Good morning!”

“Hi, Mrs. Donaldson.” Balthazar had never actually met Pedro’s parents before.

“Call me Ann. I was just making tea; would you like some?” she asked.

Balthazar nodded. “Please. Thank you.”

Mrs. Donaldson pulled another mug out of the cupboard. “I was going to make some eggs for breakfast, unless you’re craving something else?”

He thought for a moment. “Actually…”

***

About an hour later Balthazar and Mrs. Donaldson where just finishing eating the pancakes Balthazar had made. He saved enough batter to make some for Pedro when he got up and he felt sort of bad for not waiting but he hadn’t eaten anything for over twenty hours. Ann had convinced him to eat as Pedro could sleep in late sometimes. Balthazar really liked Ann. She had the same type of gumption as his own mum.

There was the sound of a door opening. “Mum?”

“Balthazar and I are in the kitchen, hun,” she replied. “I was just telling him about the time when you were little and you snuck outside when it was raining. You came back just covered in mud!” She winked at Balthazar. They’d actually been talking about the tour and Pedro and Balthazar’s adventure to Red Rocks.

Balthazar laughed as he heard Pedro groan and a second later the man himself appeared from around the corner. Pedro was wearing navy pajama bottoms with a white t-shirt half tucked in and a checked shirt hanging open over that. His hair was all over the place and he looked, frankly, adorable. Balthazar decided it was one of his favorite looks for Pedro.

“Good morning,” Balth said.

Pedro met his eyes and he smiled. “Hey, Balthy!”

Mrs. Donaldson stood up and took her plate to the sink. “I’ll leave you two to talk, then. The pancakes were wonderful, Balthazar. Thank you.” She left the room.

“What? Pancakes?”

Balthazar smiled, standing up and bringing his plate to the sink as well. “I have some batter left. I was going to make you some too.” He walked over to the stove and turned it on.

“Balthazar, you are amazing,” said Pedro.

“So you’ve said,” he replied, looking over his shoulder.

Pedro shrugged. “Hey, it’s true and I feel like reminding you.”

Balthazar turned back to the stove, partially to start the pancakes for Pedro but mostly to hide his face. He knew it had to be red.

He heard Pedro fill up and turn on the electric kettle as he set to work. Before long he had made a nice stack of pancakes. Pedro was sitting at the table and he looked up from his phone as Balthazar approached with the stack. “Oh my god,” he said, taking the plate from Balthazar. Balthazar took a seat at the table as well.

Pedro took a few bites before looking Balthazar in the eye. “So how are you?”

What a question. Balthazar crossed his arms on the table and rested his chin on them. “Okay. Better than yesterday.”

“Ursula told me you had a fight with Duke.”

Balthazar shook his head slightly. “I was always having fights with Duke. Ever since I came out, even if they were never explicitly about that.”

“May I ask what you fought about?”

 _No. No you may not,_ Balthazar thought. As much as Duke might not like him anymore, the lead singer knew how much Balthazar did for the band and just how much they were losing. He’d yelled at Balthazar about loyalty and friendship and the likes for a good half hour. That part Balthazar could handle. Then Duke started blaming Pedro for Balthazar’s departure, and that’s when Balth lost it. “Just the usual stuff. Maybe a little more loudly.”

Pedro nodded. “Are you glad you left?”

“I am. I am. It just feels a bit surreal, still. Sorry if I freaked you out yesterday, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even really realize where I was going until I pulled up to your house.”

“I’m glad you came here,” said Pedro, smiling. “You’re always welcome here.”

Balthazar smiled. “Thanks, Pedro.”

Pedro looked back down at his pancakes then back up to Balthazar. “I need to finish these. Maybe you should call Ursula? Then we can, I don’t know, watch Game of Thrones or something.”

Ursula. Right. He really should have at least texted her. “Yeah, sure,” replied Balthazar rising from the table. “You enjoy your pancakes.”

Pedro answered him by taking a huge bite. Balthazar laughed and rounded the corner. He pulled out his phone and dialed Ursula’s number.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I'll actually start replying to comments again! Sorry guys :P Thank you all so much for reading and for your comments!!! <3 <3 <3


	28. Bath

“Ben?” said Pedro, peering into Ben’s room.

A voice came from further down the hall. “In here!”

Pedro took a few steps down the hall to peer into the open door of the bathroom. He found Ben in there sitting (fully clothed) in the bath with a ukulele. “Um, what are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Sitting in a bath with a ukulele.”

“Very good! Stating the obvious!”

“Why are you sitting in a bath with a ukulele?” Pedro asked, which, looking back, should have been his first question.

Ben maneuvered himself so he was sitting sideways with his legs over the side and his back was against the wall. He strummed the ukulele. “I’m trying to write a song.”

“A song.”

“Yes. A song.”

“In a bath?”

“Again with the obvious.”

Pedro shook his head and started to turn back towards the hall. “Alright, if you’re going to be like that, I’m leaving.”

That got Ben’s attention. “Wait, no hang on.” Pedro stopped and turned back around as Ben continued. “It’s for Bea.”

Pedro’s eyebrows raised. “You’re writing a song for Beatrice? Weren’t you just telling me how horrible she was?”

Ben set the ukulele down on his lap and ran his hands down his face, “I liiiiiiiiiiiiied.”

Chuckling, Pedro said, “Okay, so you’re writing a song for Beatrice. Why did you think I would be any help?”

“I dunno. You’ve been hanging out with Balthazar so much, I thought,” Ben gesticulated wildly, “maybe… his songwriting skills would rub off on you.”

“Well, that didn’t happen.”

“But he did write a song for you,” said Ben matter-of-factly. “What is going on with you two, anyway?”

Pedro felt like he’d just been played. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ben let out a loud dramatic sigh then gestured the empty space in the bath next to him. “Take a seat.”

“I don’t want to.”

“How is he doing, by the way?” Ben asked abruptly, his face suddenly concerned.

Pedro stared at the spot in the bath next to Ben and ran a hand through his hair. He walked over to the bath and eventually he was mirroring Ben’s position, legs hanging over the side. “He’s staying with his mum and sister this week.”

“And thats… good?”

“I think so. He needed to get out of the public eye for a bit.”

Ben turned his upper body to face Pedro a little more. “So I was talking to Claudio the other day and he told me he had a crush on someone. So you know what I did?”

“What did you do, Ben?”

“I gave him a long list of celebrities he should like instead. That’s because if he fell in love with any of them it won’t matter because they are far away living in Hollywood. He could never actually be in a relationship with them. Relationships are bad.”

“Isn’t that a bit hypocritical for a guy who’s writing a song for a girl who, until recently, he claimed to despise?”

“That wasn’t my point. My point, okay, is he didn’t listen to me. And now, you’re the only one of us without a girlfriend.”

Ben left that comment hanging in the air and Pedro decided he might as well give in so Ben would stop pestering him. “Or a boyfriend,” he added looking away from Ben at the wall across from them. It was the first time he’d admitted it out loud and it felt really good.

“Or a boyfriend,” Ben repeated. He leaned back as if to take in Pedro’s entire appearance. “My advice about falling in love with a celebrity wouldn’t really work with you, would it?”

Pedro closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair again. “No. It really wouldn’t.”


	29. Hero

Hero took a deep breath as she walked up the stairs to the Jones’s front door, a container of homemade cookies in hand. If someone were to have told her a few months ago that she would one day be able to text Balthazar Jones and ask him if she could bring him cookies, she wouldn’t have believed them. Hero really couldn’t really believe she had Balthazar’s number at all. They’d hung out a few times in a group with Bea and Pedro, so it was like they were friends, but it was still strange to think about. She knocked on the door.

The door opened and Hero found her face to face with a short plump woman with short sandy hair and a pointed nose like Balthazar’s. “Hello! You must be Hero! Sta- Balthazar told me you’d be stopping by. Come in!”

“Thank you,” replied Hero stepping through the front door.

Mrs. Jones bustled off into the house. “Stan! Hero’s here!” she called. She reminded Hero of Molly Weasley from Harry Potter.

Hero slid her shoes off and followed Balthazar’s mum into the house, slightly confused about who Stan was. By the time Hero caught up with her, Balthazar was coming down the staircase with his guitar slung over his back.

He smiled. “Hey, Hero!”

“Hi Balth!” she held up the container, “I brought cookies!”

“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me,” said Mrs. Jones.

Hero watched her disappear into the kitchen then turned to Balthazar. “She’s lovely!”

Balthazar smiled. “She’s pretty great. I’m glad you came today so got to meet her. She works Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the library. Technically she doesn’t have to anymore but she likes it.” Balthazar walked over to an armchair and took a seat, placing his guitar in a stand off to the side.

“Did she call you ‘Stan’ earlier?” Hero asked, still standing awkwardly.

“It’s my first name,” said Balthazar, amused. “You can sit down.” 

Hero ducked her head and went to sit down on the couch. “Your first name is Stan? How did I not know that? I mean- sorry- I just- I’ve been a fan for so long and-”

“Nah. I get it. Not many people know. I switched to Balthazar when we moved to the city. Mum still calls me Stanley, though.”

“Does Pedro know?” Hero felt like if anyone knew, it would be Pedro.

Balthazar shook his head. “No. It hasn’t come up. And, as Mum reminds me all the time, he hasn’t met her yet.”

“She really wants to meet him, then?”

“Yeah,” Balth replied. “He’s just been so stressed lately. I don’t want to add to that.”

“I don’t think meeting your mum would be stressful. I think it would take his mind off things.” Hero had hung out with Pedro and Bea a few times since John left and it was true he really hadn’t been himself. She couldn’t see how he and Balth spending time together could be anything but a good thing, though. Pedro had talked about Balthazar a lot when they hung out with him.

“You think?” he asked, meeting her eyes.

“Balthazar, you’re pretty much his favorite person,” said Hero matter-of-factly. She could swear she saw Balthazar’s cheeks turn a bit red at that.

Hero’s phone beeped and she looked at it. It was a text from Mumma asking her to pick up a few things on her way home. She looked up at Balthazar, apologetic. “Sorry. I don’t think I can stay much longer.”

Balthazar stood. “That’s fine. It was nice to see you.”

She stood up as well handed him the container of cookies. “It was really great seeing you too. I’m so glad you’re doing alright.”

“Me too. Thanks for these!” Balthazar opened the container and took one of the cookies out. He took a bite. “Wow. I’m a fan,” he said.

Hero smiled. “Oh, good!” Balthazar walked her to the door and she slipped her flats on. They hugged (another thing she never would have believed a few months ago but now it felt normal).

She opened the door and looked back at him. “Get Pedro over here sometime soon, alright? He deserves to know your first name as well.” Hero decided not to tell him that Pedro wasn’t Pedro’s real name either. She figured Pedro could share that one.

Balthazar let out a small laugh. “I suppose you’re right.”

“If I were Beatrice I’d say I’m always right. I hope to see you soon, Balthazar!”

“Bye, Hero!”


	30. Pizza

There was a knock on the door and Balthazar jumped up to try to get it before his mum did. It didn’t work. As he rounded the corner he heard her say, “Pedro! Welcome! It’s so nice to finally meet you. Stanley talks about you all the time.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Jones,” replied Pedro. She gave him a hug and Pedro met Balthazar’s eyes over her shoulder.

_Stanley?_ Pedro mouthed, grinning.

Balthazar shrugged and adjusted his glasses. “I ordered the pizza a bit ago so it should be here soon.”

Mrs. Jones pulled away from Pedro and looked back at Balthazar. “Well, Rosa’s at Dez’s and I plan on working my way through SVU tonight so we’ll both be out of your hair.”

After she had retreated to her room, Balthazar gave Pedro a short tour of the house and they ended up in the living room on the couch.

“Any news about John?” Balthazar asked.

Pedro shook his head. “No. I’ve taken to sitting in his favorite coffee shop for hours on end hoping he’d show up so I could just… talk to him. I’ve left him maybe twelve voicemails.” He ran a hand through his hair.

“I wish I could do something to help.”

“This helps,” said Pedro, meeting his eyes. “Spending time with you always helps.”

Blessedly the doorbell rang for the pizza. Balthazar gave Pedro some cash to pay for it.

“Are we eating in here?” asked Pedro as he walked back in with the boxes.

Balthazar stood. “Nah, we’ll eat in the kitchen.” He led the way.

Pedro followed him, reading from the receipt. “Stanley Jones,” he looked up at Balthazar, amused. “When were you going to tell me that one?”

“It just never came up.” Balth took a seat at the table set with paper plates and water glasses and Pedro placed the boxes in the center.

Pedro sat down across from him. “So if Stanley is your name where the hell did ‘Balthazar’ come from?”

“Balthazar’s my middle name. I haven’t gone by Stanley in years.” He opened the top pizza box and pulled out a slice.

“I like Stanley,” said Pero, mirroring him, “but I like Balthazar more. More opportunity for nicknames. Balth. Balthy.” He held up his piece of pizza to punctuate his point then took a bite.

Balthazar tilted his head to the side. “Peddy… Peddy…”

Pedro’s eyebrows raised. “What, you trying to nickname me?”

“Maybe,” replied Balth looking down at his pizza.

“Pedro is my nickname.”

Balthazar’s head snapped back up. “What?”

“My real name is Peter. But no one’s called me that since year four.”

“Peter. And you accused me of keeping secrets. Got any other’s you’d like to share?” he asked jokingly as he took another bite of pizza.

Pedro closed his eyes and bit his lower lip. “I’m bi.”

Somehow Balthazar managed to swallow the pizza without choking on it. He wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “What did you say?”

Pedro slowly opened his eyes but he didn’t look at Balthazar. He kept his eyes on his water glass. “I’m bisexual.”

Balthazar froze. His mind was somewhere in between a coherent _your best friend/the guy you’ve been in love with for months just told you he had the potential to be attracted to you, what are you going to do next?_ and a less coherent _OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD._ In the end all he managed to say was, “oh.”

“I’ve thinking about it for a while and I finally admitted it outloud to Ben the other day.” Pedro finally looked at Balthazar and Balth did his best to make his face neutral. “You’re my best friend. I thought you should know.”

The last bit caught his attention and it allowed Balthazar to focus his thoughts a little better. “Thanks… um, you’re my best friend too.”

Pedro smiled at him and Balthazar had to look away as to not say or do anything without thinking.

The subject shifted to Balthazar’s new solo record deal and he was glad for it.

They finished their pizza and moved back into the living room to watch more Game of Thrones. Pedro kept a running commentary. Balthazar kept one of the floor lamps on when it got dark outside because without it the room was too tense and the air was too thick.

Pedro left at about eleven and Balthazar went back to his room and fell face-first onto his bed. He called Ursula. Before she could even say hi, he said, “Pedro’s bi.”

“Pedro’s what?”

He flipped onto his back. “Pedro was just here and we were talking and I asked him if he had any other secrets and he told me that he’s bi.”

“Balth, did he tell you you could tell me?”

“Fuck… No, but I had to tell someone, Urs.”

Ursula didn’t respond for a few seconds and it was agonizing. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know.”


	31. Coffee

…

…

“John!”

…

…

“Nicole says you’re in here everyday.”

“Who?”

“Barista.”

“Oh.”

…

“I’m sorry.”

“I know. I got your voicemails. All, what, twenty of them.”

…

…

“Erm… How’ve you been?”

“Okay. Better. I needed some time to think.”

“What, a month?”

“It’s only been three weeks.”

“Is that all?”

…

…

“How’s Balthazar? I saw he left the band.”

“You keep up with pop culture?”

“It was all over the news. I couldn’t exactly avoid it.”

“He’s alright, I think. I saw him a few days ago at his mum’s.”

“Have you told him you’re in love with him yet?”

“Wha… You… How?”

“You used to look at Beatrice like that. Before you locked yourself in your room after that costume party. You’re not as subtle as you think.”

…

…

“No I haven’t told him.”

“You should.”

“What, you ran away and now you’re a love expert?”

“No. But I have friends who are.”

…

…

…

…

…

…

“I… can’t believe… you just… quoted Frozen…”

“Stop…”

“And you’re laughing.”

“So are you!”

…

…

“Are you coming home soon?”

“I think so.”

…

“Tell dad and Ann I’m alright. And tell Cora. She hasn’t stopped texting me.”

“I will.”

…

…


	32. Dancing

If someone were to ask Ursula what the phrase “dancing around each other” meant, she would tell that person to follow Balthazar and Pedro around for a day. It had been a week since Balthazar had called her and as much as she didn’t want to meddle she wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take.

Ursula, Balth, and Pedro had gone to lunch at a quiet restaurant on the beach. It was a place she and Balthazar used to go to all the time before What You Will started touring all the time. She had never felt more like a third wheel in her life.

She really didn’t know what they were waiting for. It was so obvious to Ursula that they were attracted to each other, it had been obvious for months, and yet they still continued their dance.

It was a consistent rhythm they had going. Pick a subject. Talk about it. Flirt. Stare into each other’s eyes. Realize they are flirting. Look away. Repeat. It was driving her up the wall. 

After Pedro said goodbye and drove off, Ursula turned to Balthazar with an eyebrow raised.

“What?”

“Don’t you ‘what’ me, Stanley Balthazar Jones. You know exactly ‘what’.”

Balthazar let his head fall back as he looked up at the sky. “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mini chapter :)


	33. What Happened At Midnight

Balthazar needed to sleep. He had a big meeting with the record company in the morning and Ursula had instructed him to try to get to bed by ten (and because he’d learned to trust Ursula’s judgement on these things, he did as he was told). He rolled over and looked at the clock on his bedside table. It now read quarter to eleven and he knew he was nowhere near falling asleep so he pulled out his phone.

_I can’t sleep._

Pedro: _It’s not even eleven, why are you trying to sleep?_

_Why are you awake?_

Pedro didn’t text him back and Balth had to admit, he was disappointed. Usually they texted until one of them fell asleep and Balthazar was sure Pedro hadn’t fallen asleep yet; he was always up late.

A half hour passed when something hit his window. And then again. And again. It was too sharp to be the wind and there were no tree branches near the glass (he was on the ground floor) so finally Balthazar groaned and got up. He pulled the curtain open just in time to see a rock striking the window.

“Wha-”

Staring back at him from the other side of the glass was none other than Pedro Donaldson. Balthazar slid the window open. “Why are you throwing rocks?”

Pedro hadn’t stopped smiling since Balthazar first appeared in the window. “Isn’t that what people do?”

“Yeah, but I’m on the ground floor. You could have just knocked,” replied Balthazar, amused.

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“What are you doing here?”

Pedro’s head fell back as he looked straight up at the sky for a moment before looking back at Balthazar. “You’re asking too many questions. Get out here. It’s cold, dress accordingly.”

It looked like Pedro was being serious so Balthazar closed the window. He walked over to his closet to grab some tracksuit bottoms and a jacket before there was a knocking on the window again.

“What?” Balth asked Pedro, opening the window.

Pedro grinned. “Just making sure you were coming.”

“I am. Give me a minute. I’ll be at the back door.”

“Just jump through the window.”

“Why would I do that?”

Pedro shrugged “Authenticity.”

Balthazar decided not to point out that the only time sneaking out a window in the middle of the night was ‘authentic’ was if they were trying to re-enact a teenage romantic comedy. “It’s not like I’m sneaking out. It’s my own house.”

“So?”

Rolling his eyes but smiling all the same, Balthazar grabbed his wallet and keys then climbed out onto the grass by Pedro. When Balth was finished shutting the window, Pedro grabbed his hand and they ran around to where Pedro’s dad’s truck sat in Balth’s driveway. Okay, so maybe this was more fun than leaving out the back door.

They got in the truck. Balthazar only heard two notes coming from the stereo before Pedro quickly turned it off but he was still pretty sure what it was. He pointed to the dash. “Was that…?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” replied Pedro as they got on the road.

Balthazar grinned. “I know my own music, Pedro.”

“I’m sorry, you’re still not making any sense.”

“How did you get a copy?”

Pedro finally looked him. Balthazar wished it was lighter so he could make out more of his face. “I called Ursula and asked if you had recorded a version of it. It’s… on a CD. It’s the only track.”

“And that’s what was playing your entire drive to my house?”

“Yes.” Pedro looked back at the road.

Balthazar laughed and poked him. “Isn’t that a bit conceited?”

“Balthazar Jones- excuse me- the mighty Balthazar Jones wrote me a song. Forgive me for seeming conceited.”

Now Balthazar was glad for the darkness. He could feel his cheeks turning red as he shook his head, smiling. “Why do you have your dad’s truck?”

“I have reasons.”

“Where are we going?”

“Why do you keep asking questions?” Pedro didn’t sound annoyed, just amused. “Balth, please… just trust me, alright?”

Balthazar watched him for a few moments before settling back in his seat, sighing. “I trust you.”

***

They drove longer than Balthazar was expecting and they ended up well-away from the city. He almost asked Pedro a few times how much longer they’d drive for but he decided against it. As curious as he was, he trusted Pedro.

Suddenly Pedro started talking. “When you texted me I was just reading some article about how there was going to be a meteor shower tonight and how this was going to be a perfect night for it because it’s a new moon and it’s dark but it would only make a difference outside the city where there aren’t many lights so I thought we could go stargazing but I just realized that this actually is kind of creepy driving you out into the middle of nowhere without any sort of explanation so…”

“We’re going stargazing?” Balthazar asked. Oh god, maybe he was in a teen rom-com.

“If… that’s alright with you,” replied Pedro hesitantly.

“Yes.”

***

A few minutes later, Pedro pulled off the road and turned off the car. He climbed out and Balthazar mirrored him, walking around to the back of the truck. Pedro pulled the back down and Balthazar saw he had thrown at least a half-dozen blankets in the truck bed.

They ended up lying side by side. It was a tight squeeze but they managed it. Pedro had his hands behind his head as a cushion. Balthazar’s head rested on one of Pedro’s arms. 

“Why were you in bed so early?” asked Pedro as they looked up at one of the most beautiful skies Balthazar had ever seen.

“I have a meeting tomorrow morning. I was humoring Ursula.”

“Good meeting or bad meeting? I feel like you’ve had a disproportionate amount of bad meetings over the past few months.”

“I have. I’m with you on that.” Balthazar let his thoughts float back to the following morning. “It should be good. The details are all worked out, I just have to sign. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

“Great!”

“Did I tell you Ursula’s going to be my new manager?”

“What? No! That’s great! I feel like she already does half of that stuff anyway.”

“She does. And she already gets on with my agent so I think it will work out well. And I’ll get to pay her more, which is nice.”

“That’s good.”

They were quiet for a while and Balthazar did his best to focus on the sky but it was very difficult when he was lying almost on top of Pedro. He wondered what Pedro would do if he kissed him. Balth was fairly sure he’d kiss him back but he didn’t know for sure and that bothered him. The last time Balthazar had guessed that sort of thing it didn’t go over well so he was a bit gunshy.

Pedro spoke. “I don’t know anything about stars.”

“That’s alright. I don’t either.”

“I took you stargazing. I feel like I should know something.”

Balthazar sighed and half-rolled onto his stomach propping himself up on his arms to look at Pedro. Pedro half-sat up leaning on his forearms behind him.

“It really doesn’t matter, Pedro, alright? I just like killing time with you.”

Pedro smiled ever so slightly and nodded. Balthazar turned back around to avoid having his eyes drift down the Pedro’s lips. As he moved Pedro laid back down as well.

“My arm’s gonna go numb if you keep your head on it,” said Pedro.

“Fine.” Balthazar shifted until his head was on Pedro’s chest. “Better?”

“Yes.”

There was a flash across the sky and they both pointed and started yelling at the same time.

“Did you see-”

“Woah! that was-”

Balthazar laughed. “I’m pretty sure that’s the first falling star I’ve ever seen.”

“What? Well let it be known that at,” Pedro checked his phone, “exactly twelve-oh-one AM, Balthazar Jones saw his first falling star.”

Balthazar turned the side of his face into Pedro’s shirt. _I love you,_ he thought.

***

Pedro pulled the truck away from Balthazar’s house at one-thirty in the morning. They hadn’t stayed out very long. Balth really did need to get sleep before his meeting and Pedro respected that.

He thought the night had gone well, for how unplanned it was. The only thing that bothered Pedro was that he never got up the nerve to kiss Balthazar. He argued with himself almost the entire time they were in the truck bed over whether or not he should. Still, Balthazar lying on his chest had been nice, and definitely an experience he wanted repeated as soon as possible.

Reaching out, Pedro turned on the stereo and started the song over. He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of it.


	34. Baking

“I have baking stuff, you know that right?” asked Balthazar as Pedro pushed his way past him through the back door.

Pedro set the bags he was holding down on the kitchen table. “Yeah, but the last thing I wanted was to have to stop mid-cookie-baking because we were missing something.”

Balthazar nodded. It had been a week since Pedro had taken him stargazing and he was losing his mind. His week had been an endless stream of meetings and planning that kept him extremely busy. Balthazar had seen Pedro only once and Ursula had been with them. When Balth found out that Pedro had gotten Hero’s cookie recipe he jumped at the opportunity to invite Pedro over.

“Okay, so the recipe says to preheat the oven to 190 degrees,” said Pedro, wasting no time.

“You really want to make these cookies, don’t you?” asked Balthazar has he preheated the oven.

“I don’t see what the problem is with that.” 

Balthazar grinned and they got to work.

Everything was going just fine until Pedro dumped all of the flour in the bowl at once while Balth was stirring it. It exploded in the bottom of the bowl and suddenly Balthazar’s front and face had a nice fine layer of flour.

“Sorry!” said Pedro through laughs. “I’m so sorry.”

Balthazar set the bowl down on the counter then grabbed the bag of flour. He grabbed a handful of it and threw it at Pedro.

“Hey!”

Balthazar laughed. “You deserved that!”

Unfortunately Pedro noticed the other bag of flour Balthazar had sitting on a shelf in an opened cupboard. He pulled it off the shelf. “I don’t think you understand who you’re dealing with here,” Pedro said seriously.

Balthazar raised his eyebrows. “Bring it.”

Pedro was ruthless, strategic, and athletic. Balthazar remembered Pedro telling him how good he was at football and it made sense. Balth didn’t back down, though, not until he was out of flour and Pedro had cornered him against the counter and Pedro still dumped the rest of the flour over his head.

“Was that really necessary?” asked Balthazar, smiling and shaking his head to try to get some of the flour out of his hair. They were both coated in various degrees of the stuff.

“Yes,” Pedro replied. He brought his hand up and started brushing some of the powder off of Balthazar’s head. That was the moment Balthazar became aware of how close they were standing.

Pedro met his eyes, his hand still in Balth’s hair. The moment felt right, and Balthazar stretched his neck up and pressed a small kiss to Pedro’s lips. He pulled back just enough to see Pedro’s face breaking into a grin before Pedro’s hand moved to the back of his neck and pulled him forwards again. It was incredibly sweet and Balthazar couldn’t remember feeling happier.

***

Later, Pedro pulled out his phone and pulled up Instagram. He switched to the video setting and pointed his phone at Balthazar, who was ‘folding’ the cookie dough, still coated in a layer of powder. “Balth, you want to explain why you are covered in flour?”

Balthazar looked up at Pedro. “It’s your fault!”

“It is not!”

“You started it!”

“You threw flour at me first!”

Balthazar smiled and put the bowl down. He took steps towards Pedro. “Give that to me. They need to see you.”

Pedro stopped recording. “Hang on, I’ll post this one first.”

He wrote : _Apparently we can’t make cookies like normal adults. #adventuresinbakingpartone #exroadielife #balthazarjones #pedrodonaldson_

He handed his phone to Balthazar who took it then pointed it at Pedro.

“As you can see, Pedro is covered in flour as well,” said Balthazar. “Also my kitchen is a disaster now so thanks for that.”

Pedro looked around a little then looked Balthazar in the eye. He raised his eyebrows and grinned. “It was worth it for the end bit, though.”

“Pedro!”

Pedro laughed and Balthazar stopped recording. Pedro took his phone back from Balth and then kissed him again for good measure. He was still over-the-moon that he was allowed to do that now.

Balthazar went back to finishing mixing the cookie dough and Pedro posted the second video with the description: _It was all out war. Balthy’s poor kitchen. #adventuresinbakingparttwo #exroadielife #balthazarjones #pedrodonaldson #donttrythisathomekids_

With the video posted Pedro looked around the kitchen once more. He did feel bad about the mess. “Where do you keep the broom?”

“In the pantry behind the door.”

Pedro got the broom and started to clean up the floor. The stuff was everywhere and he knew it was going to take forever to clean up. “Still worth it,” he said out loud, because it was. 

Balthazar smiled at him. “Still worth it.”


	35. Sigh

When Balthazar let Pedro in the house a few days later Balth was on his phone. Pedro slid off his shoes and sat on the nearby couch as his boyfriend (!!!) leaned against the wall and talked into the phone. “What do you need me to do? … Are you sure that’s all? … Well, Pedro just got here. Let me know if there’s anything else,” Balthazar blushed, “… Shut up. Thanks Urs.” He hung up his phone.

Pedro smiled at him. “Hi.”

“Hi,” replied Balthazar tilting his head to the side.

“What was that about?”

Balthazar pushed off the wall and walked over to the couch and laid down his his head in Pedro’s lap. “Remember that last minute gig I told you about a few days ago?”

Pedro started to run his hand through Balthazar’s hair. It had quickly become one of his favorite things to do. Besides, you know, making out. “Yeah. Are you going to be able to do it?” Balthazar had gone into great detail describing every obstacle he and Ursula faced setting up the gig so Pedro wasn’t sure he was going to be able get it sorted.

Balthazar nodded. “Turns out Ursula is even more intimidating than even I knew. The venue had an opening three days from today and she managed to persuade the owner to let us use it last minute.”

“Nice!”

“Will people show up, though? The tickets are free but it’s very last minute.”

Balthazar actually looked worried about it and Pedro almost laugh at how ridiculous the idea was. “Balthy, you could announce a show for an hour from now and people would show up. Everyone loves you. I love you too. They’ll come.”

Pedro and Balthazar registered what Pedro had just said at the exact same moment. Balthazar sat up, one foot getting stuck beneath him and one on the floor as he turned to face Pedro. “What?”

_Fuck it,_ thought Pedro. Backtracking would only make things worse. “I love you. And I know that we’ve only technically been together for a week but-” He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence because Balthazar shifted towards him, put a hand on his shoulder, and kissed him soundly. Pedro brought a hand up to Balthazar’s jaw and kissed him back. 

***

“I want to come out,” said Balthazar a little later having resumed his previous position with his head in Pedro’s lap. “At my gig. I want to come out to everyone. I’ve talked to Ursula and Julie, she’s my new publicist, and they said now was a good time to do it. But if I do…” He looked up at Pedro.

“The pedrazar thing will get even more crazy,” Pedro finished for him.

“I won’t do it if you don’t want me too.” Balthazar knew he’d have to do it eventually but Pedro had only recently come out to him and he didn’t want to put Pedro in a situation like that before he was ready for it.

Pedro ran a hand through his hair. He took a deep breath then looked back down at Balthazar. “I think you should.”

“You sure? I can give you more time to think about it.”

“No, I’m sure.”

Balthazar smiled. “Okay. If you’re sure. You can change your mind anytime before the show.”

“Thanks,” replied Pedro. “I don’t think I will though. I just want to tell my friends first.”

That was good idea. Balthazar was sure Pedro would at least get an earful from Bea if she found out about it from social media instead of Pedro himself. “You’ll have to tell me how they all react.”

“I will.”

“I love you, too,” said Balthazar. “Just making sure you know that.”

Pedro smiled widely then did his best to stifle it. It didn’t really work.

Balthazar rolled his eyes. “No need to look so smug about it!”

“No. I do. Hang on, I have to document this.” Pedro pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a selfie with the same stupid grin on his face. He typed a few things then showed the screen to Balthazar.

The caption read: _‘No need to look so smug!’ ~ Balthazar #yousaysmugisayhappy #youreallyhavenoideahowhappyiamrightnow #exroadielife #balthazarjones #pedrodonaldson #sigh_

Balth smiled. “Post it.”


	36. Confession

Pedro had been right about the crowd. The venue was packed.

Balthazar took a deep breath. This was the first gig he’s ever done on his own. It would just be him on stage with his guitar and the piano.

A pair of arms appeared around his waist as a chin came to rest on his shoulder. “You’re going to be great,” said Pedro quietly into his ear.

“Weren’t you going to check the mic?” Balthazar said looking at his boyfriend.

Pedro rolled his eyes and gave Balthazar a quick peck on the lips. “Alright I’m going.”

It was clear Pedro had not been ready for the cheers that rose when he walked on stage and Balthazar laughed.

“Balthazar!”

That was not a voice Balthazar had been expecting to hear tonight. He turned to see Andrew and Sebastian walking towards him with smiles on their faces. “Hey!” he said thoroughly surprised. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We heard about your show so we called Ursula,” replied Sebastian. “We wanted to wish you good luck. Or break a leg or whatever.”

“Why didn’t you just call me? Why Ursula?”

Andrew looked a little sheepish. “We weren’t sure you’d be willing to talk to us. We didn’t exactly help when you stood up to Duke.”

“We’re sorry. He was being such a dick.”

“Thanks,” said Balthazar. “Are you staying for the show, or…?”

Sebastian smiled. “If that’s alright with you we’d love to see it.”

Balthazar considered them for a moment. It was really nice to see them both again and he knew if they tried anything Ursula would probably wring their necks. “Yeah. Sure.”

“Thanks, bro!” said Andrew.

Sebastian’s gaze shifted over Balthazar’s shoulder. He gestured in the direction of the stage. “So. You and Pedro then?”

Balthazar looked over his shoulder. Pedro was still testing the mic. “Yeah. He’s… He’s great.”

When he turned back around he found both Andrew and Sebastian smiling at him. “I’m happy for you,” Sebastian said.

***

It was good that Balth got Pedro to check the mic because it took a few minutes to get it to work. Luckily Pedro had played around with this stuff long enough on the tour to know what to do to fix it. The only difference was this time he was being bombarded with cheers and yelled questions and ‘WE LOVE YOU PEDRO’s. It was the strangest experience he’d had since being recognized randomly on the street for the first time.

He got the mic working and put it back on the stand. It wasn’t until Pedro got off the stage that he noticed Sebastian and Andrew. He started to gear up to be on the defense until Balthazar turned towards him, smiling. Pedro let himself relax and walked forwards.

“Pedro! Hi!” said Andrew as he took a step forward with his hand outstretched.

Pedro reached out to shake Andrew’s hand. “Hi Andrew. I didn’t expect to see you here.” Other than Balthazar, Andrew had been the band member Pedro had gotten along best with. 

“We came to see Balthazar’s show, and to, you know, apologize.”

Balthazar caught his eye and nodded. Pedro looked back to Andrew. “Well, it’s good to see you.”

Sebastian and Andrew excused themselves to find a good place to watch leaving Balthazar alone with Pedro once more.

“You ready?” asked Pedro.

“Are you?”

Pedro nodded. “I’m ready.”

“I’m going to say it at the end of the show. Wave at me or something if you-”

“I’m not going to change my mind,” said Pedro, cutting him off.

Balthazar nodded. “Alright.”

The lighting dimmed noticeably. “Balthazar! You’re up!” the stage manager yelled.

“Doesn’t she know who she’s talking to? That’s the mighty Balthazar to you,” said Pedro quietly, faking offence.

Balthazar poked him in the side. “Shut up.”

***

The reception Pedro had gotten when he walked out was nothing compared to Balthazar’s. It was strange being on stage all on his own. It meant that every single cheer was for him. He picked his guitar off the stand and put the strap over his shoulder. The screams didn’t stop. He tested the tuning. They still didn’t stop. “Erm, hello,” Balth said into the microphone. The screams got louder.

It was overwhelming, but not in a bad way. He took a step back from the mic and brought a hand to his face. As much as Ursula and Pedro had reassured him that people would support him as a solo artist, Balthazar had still been extremely apprehensive about it. This is going to work, he thought, everything is going to work out just fine.

He dropped his hand from his face and looked off to the side at Pedro. ‘You okay?’ Pedro mouthed, one of his hands giving a thumbs up sign.

Balthazar nodded and looked back out at the crowd, which was finally setting down. “Thank you so much. Really. I know this was last minute and it’s so great to see you all here.” He paused to allow for another round of screaming. “So I’m just going to play some songs for you tonight. You’ll know some of them but a lot of them are just things I’ve been working on that I’d like to share with you. I don’t know if any of them will be on a future album or not. Oh! There’ll be some covers as well. That sound alright?”

There was another cheer and Balthazar took a step back as he began to play.

The whole thing went so well. It felt loose and casual, which was nothing like Balthazar was used to. He got to improvise and switch his setlist around as he went. A girl from the audience yelled, asking him to play his song called ‘Note Worth Singing’, which had never made it on an album but he had recorded it with Ursula a few years back. That one had been fun to revisit.

Finally it was time to wrap things up.

Balthazar took step back to breathe for a moment then glanced over at Pedro. Pedro smiled and nodded.

Here goes nothing, Balthazar thought, stepping up to the microphone. “Alright. So I have one more song for you tonight… Yeah I know. I don’t want to leave either. I have one more song but first… There’s something I want to tell you all … A confession I guess.” The large room got quiet. “Erm, it’s something I’ve known about myself for a while and I’ve thought about it a lot recently. And a lot of you have probably guessed this by now… But I wanted to tell you all as I start this new… chapter, I suppose, in my life … that … I’m gay.”

The noise was incredible and overwhelmingly positive. Balthazar also heard a large amount of people yelling questions about Pedro, which he had been afraid of. He looked over to where Pedro was standing off stage. Pedro pointed to the audience then pointed at his phone and made a typing motion. He mouthed something that looked like ‘Instagram’ then pointed back the audience.

Balthazar looked back out from the stage. “Pedro wants you all to check Instagram I think.”

There was a scuffle as everyone who didn’t have them out already pulled out their phones then even more cheers. Balth was very curious. He approached the edge of the stage and slung his guitar behind his back. “Alright, what did he say?” he asked to the nearby people as he knelt down. The gal nearest to him reached her phone out to him. Pedro had taken a selfie and captioned it with the hashtag _#allaroundgreatbi._

Balthazar rolled his eyes and handed the phone back. When he got back to the microphone Balth said, “he’s going to regret that hashtag… anyway. Thanks for the support. I really appreciate it. And I think I promised you all one more song.”

***

Pedro could not stop smiling. Everything had gone over better than he could have ever dreamed. Sure, the awful comments would come, in fact they would probably reach him before he got to bed that night, but for now Balthazar was happy and that was all that mattered. There was no point in worrying about it. Instead, Pedro just stood next to Ursula and listened to Balthazar singing.

_Man is a giddy thing… Oh man is a giddy thing…_

The chorus came around and Pedro decided to make one more Instagram post that night. He took a picture of Balth on the stage and captioned it:

_~love, it will not betray you dismay or enslave you, it will set you free~ #balthazarjones #lovethatguy #exroadielife #pedrazar_


	37. Bleurgh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. This is it. The end. The actual end. What. 
> 
> When I first started planning this fic I had no idea what the scope would become. Thank you all so much for reading this story and for all of your lovely comments! You are all so incredible. Really, I can't thank you enough!
> 
> So, without further ado, I present the final chapter of The Roadie. Enjoy :D

“You sure we’re allowed to be here?” asked Balthazar. The only light came from the little light on Pedro’s phone as he led the way up the path. They both carried several blankets and pillows in their arms.

“Nope,” replied Pedro, looking back over his shoulder at his boyfriend as he plowed ahead.

Balthazar rolled his eyes. “If I get arrested for trespassing the night before my first show here-”

Pedro stopped walking and turned, causing Balthazar to almost run into him. Pedro placed his hands on either side of Balth’s face, still managing to keep a hold on the blankets. “Balthy. I love you. But you gotta chill. Everything will be fine.”

Balthazar stared right back. “If we get arrested, it’s on you. You get to deal with Ursula.”

“Deal.” Pedro kissed his forehead and started walking again.

It didn’t take too long to get to the stage. Because it was technically closed, there were no lights. A faint glow reached them from Denver and the quarter moon sat low in the sky but other than that the sky was incredibly clear. They climbed up a few levels of seats before Pedro laid out one of the blankets. They situated themselves on top of it. There wasn’t a ton of room but they managed it with a similar arrangement they’d had the last time they went stargazing with Balthazar’s head on Pedro’s chest with a few blankets over both of them.

“I can’t believe it was over a year ago,” said Pedro as they looked up at the stars.

“What was?” There were a few things Pedro could be referring to.

“Last time we were here. God, so much has changed.”

Balthazar rolled slightly and propped himself up so he was looking at Pedro. “For the better, I think.”

Pedro smiled, wistfully. “I think so too.” His eyes went back up to the sky. “I still know nothing about stars though… Actually, no. I know about one.”

“Yeah? Which one?” Balthazar asked. Pedro raised his eyebrows and looked Balth up and down in response. It didn’t take too long for the musician to catch on. “Wow, that was terrible,” he said, blushing all the same.

“It was, wasn’t it?”

Balthazar smiled and leaned down to kiss his boyfriend. It was slow and sweet and the angle wasn’t great but he didn’t really care. Pedro was right; everything had changed. Balthazar had been so confused. Back then he wasn’t able to produce the music he wanted to but leaving What You Will was still considered a hypothetical situation. He fought with Duke and Moriah and Tucker on a consistent basis. He wouldn’t go out to meet the fans out of fear having a panic attack. He walked around most of the time with a feeling of… bleurgh. Really, though, It had been fine. Just fine.

Meeting Pedro had changed all of that. Balthazar wouldn’t give the roadie all the credit, after all, Balthazar had been the one to stand up to Duke and actually go out and face his fears, but Pedro had been there to give Balth the small push he needed so he could be who he wanted to be. A true friend who wanted him to be able to live out all of his dreams and encouraged him in every moment. Balthazar couldn’t thank him enough for that. For being there.

Finally breaking the kiss, Balthazar lifted his head to look at Pedro. His boyfriend wore a small smile on his face and his eyes were still closed. “I’m so glad I met you,” he said quietly.

Pedro opened his eyes. “Me too.”

Balthazar settled back down on Pedro’s chest and looked back up at the stars. Tomorrow he’d be playing Red Rocks, then the rest of his first solo tour, and then, who knew? Odds were there would be more drama and frustrations and pancakes to be made but also so, so much more good and happiness and light. And when it came down to it, after everything that had happened in the last year, Balthazar really wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it! 
> 
> I have a few stories in the works that I can't wait to show you guys. Right now I have no plans to write more in this universe but that could change. 
> 
> Until then, Best Wishes :D


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